Question

    The man who brings my milk used to knock for his money for the week’s milk while I was having breakfast on Saturday morning. Just lately he has been arriving before I get up. Staff shortages mean that four men are sharing five rounds, so he has to start earlier.

Delivering milk to people’s homes is scarcely good business, especially when the customer may have a choice of two or three firms serving a single road. In spite of my local difficulties, however, labor troubles are not as sharp as a few years ago. There are enough men prepared to make an early morning for the sake of an open-air job with a fair measure of freedom. If they did stop calling, women would find it hard work to collect all the milk they need from self-service stores . Dairies are aware that stopping deliveries resulted in falling sales.

Marketing ideas have included introducing extra lines, in addition to dairy products, which the milkman can carry to increase turnover. Already they have taken over many rounds given up by bakeries. One dairyman said, “It wont’ be long before the milkman delivers more bread that milk. ” Some milkmen deliver potatoes, and it seems as if diversification will be limited only by the size of the vans.

So the milkman is likely to remain a familiar figure. Even the returnable bottle continues to be used. As long as it has a reasonable life―30 to 40 trips are usual― the cost of collection and cleaning is worthwhile.

 

72. We are told that the milkman now starts out on his delivery rounds earlier than before because of ___________.

     A. the desire to earn more money                      

     B. more early-rising customers

     C. an increased demand for milk                       

     D. an increased workload

73. Why do some people choose to be milkmen?

     A. Because they can exercise in early morning.  

     B. Because they like working outdoors.

     C. Because they want to serve several firms.            

     D. Because they like getting up early.

74. What does it mean by the underlined sentence in Para. 3 ?  

     A. Bakeries are asking milkmen to deliver bread.

     B. Milkmen have taken over some bakery rounds.

     C. Bread is more popular than milk now.

     D. People buy more bread from milkmen than from bakers.

75. Dairy firms continue to supply returnable milk bottles because they are __________.

     A. most economical in the long term                  

     B. the most durable form of container

     C. easy to clean and collect                              

     D. convenient for customers to return

Answer 1

72.  D.  题目问为什么送奶工上门的时间比过去早了？由第一段最后一句话可知， 送奶工早起是因为员工短缺，四个人要干五个人的活，也就是说每个人的 工作量加大了，故选D。

73.  B.  第二段第三句话指出有人选择做早起的送奶工是因为他们认为这是一份相当自由的户外工作（open-air job）, 故选B。

74.  B.  题目问牛奶场送的面包将超过牛奶说明了什么？文章第三段指出送奶工除了送乳制品外还送其他产品，他们已经接管了面包店的许多活： “already they have taken over many rounds given up by bakeries. ” 由此可知，不久后送奶工将会送更多的面包，故选B。

75.  A.  文章最后一段指出“能够继续使用可回收奶瓶。只要使用寿命合理─―通常可循环使用30到40次─―那么清洗和回收的费用还是很划算的”。由此可知，牛奶公司主要考虑的是经济问题，认为继续使用可回收奶瓶是最经济的。故选A。