The market investigation is indispensable to sales promotion. They are as closely related as the lips and teeth, so to speak. What you produce is for sale on the market. It would be impossible to succeed in selling a product without first investigating the market.

    In the international market, goods on sale coming from different countries and suppliers are always facing keen competition. Under such circumstances, they will try everything possible to familiarize themselves with the market conditions. In making investigations, we ought to get information about what similar items the competitors are offering on the market, what prices they are quoting（报价）, what features their products have, who are their regular customers, etc. Then, how can we obtain such information? There are many channels that we can make use of in doing this sort of work. The commercial counselor's offices of our embassies stationed abroad can help us in making market investigations. Nowadays, our import and export corporations send their trade groups abroad every now and then. One of their purposes is to make market surveys on the spot.

     Certainly, face-to-face talks with foreign businessmen are also important channels to get market information. The Chinese Export Commodities Fairs and some other fairs of similar nature as well as visits of foreign businessmen provide us with such opportunities. Of course, there are some other ways of making market investigations.

1.In making market investigations, one should ______.

   A. get enough information concerned             B. advertise his products

   C. produce high quality goods                   D. none of the above

2.The word "indispensable" in the first line means ______.

   A. impossible                                B. necessary

   C. advisable                                 D. available

3. Which of the following statements is NOT true?

   A. The relationship between market investigation and sales promotion is just as that of the lips and   

      teeth.

   B. It is impossible to succeed in selling a product without market investigation.

   C. There are various ways of making market investigation.

   D. Production goes before market investigation.

4.All the following are channels to get market information except ________.

  A. to have commercial counsellor' s office of our embassies stationed abroad

  B. to promote the quality of our own products

  C. to send trade groups abroad every now and then

  D. to have face-to-face talks with foreign businessmen

 

 

Many famous painters worked in Antwerp during the city’s period of greatest power but Peter Paul Rubens is undoubtedly the most famous one of them. Known as Rubens House, the palace-like residence(大宅) and studio where Rubens worked and lived from 1616 until his death in 1640 is now one of Antwerp’s most visited museums.

Almost all of the works Rubens and his students created in the Rubens House have been dispersed (分散) over major museums across the whole world, but there is still an impressive collection well worth the visit. Besides paintings form the master himself you will find other works of art and furniture of the 17th century as well as paintings from his students, including works by Jacob Jordaens and Anthony Van Dyck.

The Rubens House was not only a studio but also a meeting place for the rich and famous. His clients(委托人) included wealthy merchants, diplomats, and there were also many noblemen who often visited his studio to see how work progressed. The Rubens House even had a special viewing area which allowed visitors to see the artists at work.

Ruben bought the house at the beginning of the 17th century after his eight-year-long stay in Italy. Influenced by Italian architecture, he rebuilt the building into an Italian-styled palace with a beautiful garden and moved in the house in1616.

After his death the building was sold. New owners modified the building greatly and by 1937, when the building was purchased by the city of Antwerp, it hardly resembled the original structure.

The impressive entrance hall, which connected the studio and the residence, is one of the few parts that survived. Other parts have been carefully restored and reconstructed after original plans and paintings of the house.

1.As a museum, the Rubens House is popular because _______.

A. it lies in the famous city of Antwerp

B. it holds all the works by Rubens and his students

C. there are many people who enjoy visiting it

D. Rubens, a great artist, lived and worked there

2.We can learn from the third paragraph that _______.

A. the Rubens House was popular with upper-class people

B. the Rubens House was the best studio in its time

C. Rubens’s students included noblemen and diplomats

D. people were not allowed to view the artists working

3.What can be inferred from the text?

A. Thanks to its great painters, Antwerp became a rich city.

B. Ruben possibly showed strong interest in Italian buildings.

C. Antwerp must be a historical city in Italy.

D. The Rubens House was completely rebuilt before 1937.

4.Which of the following is TRUE, according to the text?

A. Rubens created his works by working with his students.

B. A beautiful garden was added to the Rubens House by new owners.

C. The Rubens House is decorated with furniture of the 17th century.

D. Today’s Rubens House looks like its original structure.

 

 

Many of us feel uneasy when someone stands too close to us, talks to us too loudly or makes eye contact(接触) with us for too long. But have you ever wondered why those things make you uncomfortable?

It’s all about personal peace, which means not only an imaginary space around the body, but also the space around all the senses. People feel that their space is being violated(侵犯) when they meet with an unwelcome sound, smell or look. This is probably why a man on a crowded bus shouting into his mobile phone or a woman next to you putting on strong perfume(香水) makes you feel angry.

Whether people have had a stronger wish to protect their personal space in recent times is hard to say. Yet studies of airlines show that people have a strong desire(渴望) to have space to themselves. In a survey （调查）by TripAdvisor, a travel website, people said that if they had to pay more for some extra service, they would rather have larger seats than extra food.

Although people may need their personal space, some hardly realize it. For example, people on a bus who hold newspapers in front of their faces to read in fact keep a distance from strangers.

Go and watch a library table. You will notice that one of the corner seats will usually be taken first, because they are the farthest way. What if someone sits opposite to you? Maybe you will pile up books as if to make a wall.

Preference(偏好) for personal space are different from culture to culture. Scientists have found that Americans generally prefer more personal space than people from other cultures. In Latin(拉丁人的) cultures, however, people are more comfortable standing close to each other.

1.The writer mainly _________ in this article.

A. tells us how to achieve personal space

B. explains what personal space people need is

C. introduces some knowledge about personal space

D. argues for the importance of keeping personal space

2.Who might feel his personal space is safe according to the passage?

A. A person who has to sit next to a lady putting on strong perfume.

B. A person who has been watched by a stranger for a long time.

C. A person who hears strange noises when reading at home.

D. A Latin boy who is chatting with a friend sitting close to him.

3.What can we know from the survey by TripAdvisor?

A. People need a smaller personal space in recent times than before.

B. People have a strong desire for personal space in recent times.

C. There are not enough seats on the plane to meet people’s needs.

D. Food service is better provided than seats on the plane.

4.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A. The space around the body is more needed than that around all the senses.

B. If you hold newspapers on the bus, your personal space won’t be violated.

C. People usually choose the corner seats first in a library for personal space.

D. Different cultures share the same preferences for personal space.

 

Someday a stranger will read your e-mail without your permission or scan the websites you’ve visited. Or perhaps someone will casually glance through your credit card purchases or cell phone bills to find out your shopping preferences or calling habits.

In fact, it’s likely some of these things have already happened to you. Who would watch you without your permission? It might be a spouse, a girlfriend, a marketing company, a boss, a cop or a criminal. Whoever it is, they will see you in a way you never intended to be seen—the 21st century equivalent (相等物) of being caught naked.

Psychologists tell us boundaries are healthy, that it’s important to reveal yourself to friends, family and lovers in stages, at appropriate times. But few boundaries remain. The digital bread pieces you leave everywhere make it easy for strangers to reconstruct who you are, where you are and what you like. In some cases, a simple Google search can reveal what you think. Like it or not, increasingly we live in a world where you simply cannot keep a secret.

The key question is: Does that matter?

For many Americans, the answer apparently is “no.”

When opinion polls (民意测验) ask Americans about privacy, most say they are concerned about losing it. A survey found a serious depression about privacy, with 60 percent of respondents saying they feel their privacy is “slipping away, and that bothers me.”

But people say one thing and do another. Only a tiny part of Americans change any behaviors in an effort to preserve their privacy. Few people turn down a discount at tollbooths (收费站) to avoid using the EZ-Pass system that can track automobile movements. And few turn down supermarket loyalty cards. Privacy economist Alessanfro Acquisti has run a series of tests that reveal people will surrender personal information like Social Security numbers just to get their hands on a pitiful 50-cents-off coupon (优惠券).

But privacy does matter—at least sometimes. It’s like health: when you have it, you don’t notice it. Only when it’s gone do you wish you’d done more to protect it.

 

1.What would psychologists advise on the relationships between friends?

A. Friends should open their hearts to each other.

B. Friends should always be faithful to each other.

C. There should be a distance even between friends.

D. There should be fewer disagreements between friends.

2.Why does the author say “we live in a world where you simply cannot keep a secret”?

A. Modern society has finally developed into an open society.

B. People leave traces around when using modern technology.

C. There are always people who are curious about others’ affairs.

D. Many search engines profit by revealing people’s identities.

3.What do most Americans do about privacy protection?

A. They change behaviors that might disclose their identity.

B. They use various loyalty cards for business deals.

C. They rely more and more on electronic devices.

D. They talk a lot but hardly do anything about it.

4.According to the passage, privacy is like health because __________.

A. people will make every effort to keep it    

B. its importance is rarely understood

C. it is something that can easily be lost 

D. people don’t cherish it until they lose it

 

Written in a hurry, __________________ .

   A. they found many mistakes in the report   B. he made lots of mistakes in the report

   C. there are a lot of mistakes in the report    D. the report is full of mistakes