In the UK, we like a good bargain. People flock to the sales in January, when stores slash their prices to get rid of all their winter stock. But surprisingly, the British hate haggling. In markets you might see the odd British person battling with a stall owner to bring down the price of a pair of trousers or some furniture. Generally, though, people from the UK are too reserved to haggle. If we think the price of something we want is too high, we’ll simply move on and try somewhere else.

The act of bargaining with someone is very theatrical, in my opinion. It’s a test to see who can stand their ground for the longest. But it is not in British people’s nature to “perform” in public, especially around strangers.

However, in the US, people are generally more willing to haggle. And if you wander into a market, you’re likely to hear a number of phrases that Americans reserve for such occasions.

First, “you drive a hard bargain” is commonly said by the customer to indicate they think the stall holder is working very hard, probably a little too hard, to get the price he wants.

Or you might hear the buyer telling a stall holder that “the kid’s gotta have braces”, which means they don’t have enough spare money lying around to afford the price being offered.

If the customer is really shocked at the price suggested by the seller, they also might say “you’re killing me” to indicate that they think the price is far too high.

In Britain, it’s difficult to imagine anyone saying anything along these lines. If I were forced to bargain, I’d probably say, very simply: “I’m going to make you an offer.” If that offer were refused, I think I’d just walk away.

1.The underlined word “haggling” can be replaced by _______.

A．arguing           B．bargaining         C．performing        D．insisting

2.Why don’t the British haggle generally?

A．They don’t think it is polite behavior.

B．They have sales every January.

C．They can always get a better price somewhere else.

D．They dislike openly expressing feelings or opinions.

3.The underlined phrase “you drive a hard bargain” means_______.

A．the seller has a lot of deals on offer.

B．the buyer will make a final offer

C．the stall holder is too insistent

D．the buyer doesn’t have a lot of spare money

4.What’s the author’s attitude toward bargaining?

A．Negative.          B．Careless.          C．Positive.           D．Critical.

5.How does the passage mainly develop?

A．By providing examples.

B．By making comparision.

C．By analyzing causes and effects.

D．By following the order of importance.

 

根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。
Shopping is not as simple as you may think! There are all sorts of tricks at play each time we reach out for that particular brand of product on the shelf.
【小题1】_ Health foods are packaged in greens, yellows or browns because we think of these healthy colors. Ice cream packers are often blue and expensive goods, like chocolates, are gold or silver.
【小题2】_ Recently, some kind of pain killer was brought out, but researchers found it didn’t sell well, because the color made the product look weak and ineffective. Eventually, it came on the market in a dark blue and white package—because we think of blue as safe, and white as calm.
_【小题3】 But quite often a bottle doesn’t contain as much as it appears to.It is believed that the better-known companies spend, on average, 70 percent of the total cost of the product itself on packaging!
The most successful producers know the truth: _【小题4】 The founder of Pears soup, who for 25 years has used pretty little girls to promote their goods, came to the conclusion: “_【小题5】”

A．It’s not enough to have a good product.

B．Coloring, for example, varies according to what the producers are trying to sell.

C．Any fool can make soup, but it takes a genius to sell it.

D．The colors tricked the customers into shopping.

E. The size of a product can attract a shopper.
F. A good product is an advantage.
G. The colors turned the customers off.

Some students get so nervous before a test, they do poorly even if they know the material. Sian Beilock has studied these highly anxious test-takers.

Sian Beilock: “They start worrying about the consequences. They might even start worrying about whether this exam is going to prevent them from getting into the college they want. And when we worry, it actually uses up attention and memory resources.I talk about it as your cognitive horsepower that you could otherwise be using to focus on the exam.”

Professor Beilock and another researcher, Gerardo Ramirez, have developed a possible solution. Just before an exam, highly anxious test-takers spend ten minutes writing about their worries about the test.

Sian Beilock: “what we think happens is when students put it down on paper , they think about the worst that could happen and they reappraise the situation. They might realize it’s not as had as they might think it was before and, in essence(本质上), it prevents these thoughts from popping up when they’re actually taking a test.”

The researchers tested the idea on a group of twenty anxious college students. They gave them two short math tests. After the first one, they asked the students to either sit quietly or write about their feelings about the upcoming second test.

The researchers added to the pressure. They told the students that those who did well on the second test would get money. They also told them that their performance would affect other students as part of a team effort.

Professor Beilock says those who sat quietly scored an average of twelve percent worse on the second test. But the students who had written about their fears improved their performance by an average of five percent.

Next, the researchers used younger students in a biology class. They told them before final exams either to write about their feelings or to think about things unrelated to the test.

Prefessor Beilock says highly anxious students who did the writing got an average grade of B+, compared to a B- for those who did not.

Sian Beilock: “What we showed is that for students who are highly test-anxious, who’d done our writing intervention, all of a sudden there was no relationship between test anxiety and performance. Those students most likely to worry were performing just as well as their classmates who don’t normally get nervous in these testing situations.”

But what if students do not have a chance to write about their fears immediately before an exam or presentation? Professor Beilock says students can try it themselves at home or in the library and still improve their performance. 

1.What may happen if students have the problem of test anxiety?

A．Test anxiety can improve students’ performance to some degree.

B．Students’ attention and memory resources run out when worried.

C．Students may not be admitted into their favorite college if worried

D．Test anxiety is sure to cause students to fail the test.

2.Which of the following if TRUE?

A．In the first math test, students who sat quietly performed better.

B．In the second math test, students who wrote about their feelings did worse.

C．Some college students are highly anxious test-takers while others are not in the tests.

D．The result in the math test agrees with that in the biology test.

3.What does the underlined phrase “popping up” mean?

A．Giving out         B．Fading away        C．Becoming clearly    D．Appearing suddenly

4.what is most probably Sian Beilock?

A．A psychology professor.                  B．A philosophy researcher.

C．A politics professor                      D．A tutor

5.What is the main idea of the passage?

A．It is a common practice for students being worried before a test.

B．Being worried before tests does harm to students’ performance.

C．Anxious students overcome test anxiety by writing down fears.

D．It is important for students to overcome test anxiety.

 

Making an advertisement for television often costs more than a movie. For example, a two – hour movie costs ＄6 million to make. A TV commercial can cost more than ＄6 000 a second. And that does not include cost of paying for air time. Which is more valuable, the program or the ad? In terms of money – and making money is what television is all about – the commercial is by far the more important.

Research, market testing, talent, time and money —— all come together to make us want to buy a product.

No matter how bad we think a commercial is, it works. The sales of Charm went up once the ads began. TV commercials actually buy their way into our head. We, in turn, buy the product.

And the ads work because so much time and attention are given to them. Here are some rules of commercial ad making. If you want to get the low middle – class buyer, make sure the announcer has a though, manly voice. Put some people in the ad who work with their hands. If you want to sell to upper – class audience, make sure that the house,  the furniture, and the hair style are the types that the group identifies  with. If you want the buyer feel superior to the character selling the product, then make that person so stupid or silly that everyone will feel great about himself or herself.

We laugh at commercials. We don’t think we pay that much attention to them. But evidence shows we are kidding ourselves. The making of a commercial that costs so much money is not kid stuff. It’s big, big business. And it’s telling us what to think , what we need, and what to buy. To put simply, the TV commercial is a form of brainwashing.

1.TV commercials are more important than other programs to television because      .

A．they bring in great profits                 B．they require a lot of money to make

C．they are not difficult to produce            D．they attract more viewers than other programs

2.The purpose of all the efforts made in turning out TV commercials is         .`

A．to persuade people to buy the product

B．to show how valuable the product is

C．to test the market value of the product

D．to make them as interesting as TV movies

3.From the rules set for making commercial ads, we can see that         .

A．the lower – middle – class buyer likes to work with his hand

B．the more stupid the characters, the more buyers of the product

C．ad designers attract different people with different skills

D．an upper – class buyer is only interested in houses and furniture

4.It is believed by the writer that         .

A．few people like to watch TV commercials

B．TV commercials are a good guide to buyers

C．TV commercials often make people laugh

D．people do not think highly of TV commercials

5.What does the author actually mean in the last paragraph?

A．He asks TV viewers never to laugh at the TV commercial ads.

B．Commercials are used to show the true value of a product to be sold.

C．TV commercials cost much and they do influence us in one way or another.

D．Brainwashing must be introduced to sell something on TV.

 

It can be hard to meet people from another culture. From the beginning, people may send the wrong signal（信号）. Or they may pay no attention to signals from another person who is trying to develop a relationship.

Different cultures emphasize （强调）the importance of relationship building to a greater or lesser degree. For example, business in some countries is not possible until there is a relationship of trust. Even with people at work, it is necessary to spend a lot of time in “small talk”, usually over a glass of tea, before they do any job. In many European countries--like the UK or France—people find it easier to build up a lasting working relationship at restaurants or cafes rather than at the office.

Talk and silence may also be different in some cultures. I once made a speech in Thailand. I had expected my speech to be a success and start a lively discussion; instead there was an uncomfortable silence. The people present just stared at me and smiled. After getting to know their ways better, I realized that they thought I was talking too much. In my own culture, we express meaning mainly through words, but people there sometimes feel too many words are unnecessary.

Even within Northern Europe, cultural differences can cause serious problems. Certainly, English and German cultures share similar values; however, Germans prefer to get down to business more quickly. We think that they are rude. In fact, this is just because one culture starts discussions and makes decisions more quickly.

People from different parts of the world have different values, and sometimes these values are quite against each other. However, if we can understand them better, a multicultural environment（多元文化环境）will offer a wonderful chance for us to learn from each other.

1.In some countries, eating together at restaurants may make it easier for people to ________.

A. keep each other company            B. share the same Culture

C. get to know each other              D. develop closer relations

2.The author mentions his experience in Thailand to show that _________.

A. even talk and silence can be culturally different

B. too many words are of no use

C. people from Thailand are quiet and shy by nature

D. the English prefer to make long speeches

3.According to the text, how can people from different cultures understand each other better?

A. By sharing different ways of life.

B. By recognizing different values.

C. By accepting different habits.

D. By speaking each other’s languages.

4.What would be the best title for the text?

A. Multicultural Environment.           B. How to Understand Each Other.

C. Cross-Cultural Differences.           D. How to Build Up a Relationship.