Over three million people will do their Christmas shopping entirely online this year without once visiting an actual shop, a poll (民意调查) has found. Overcrowding and long queues in shops are forcing people away from the high street as the hassle (烦扰) of Christmas shopping becomes too much.

The number of people turning their backs on the high street is almost one million higher than it was last year, according to the poll by YouGov. Last Christmas 2.4 million shoppers did not do any of their shopping in actual shops. The figure this year is predicted to be around 3.4 million, equal to around 7 percent of the adult population.

Over a third of people said that the main turn-off about shopping on the high street is 0ver-crow-ding. Meanwhile almost a quarter said that long queues at the cheek-out are the worst thing about it.

Of the 2.065 people pored, even those who are stir taking to the shops plan to spend less time in them this Christmas. Around 31 percent of shoppers who plan to spend at least some time on the high street will spend less than half of their shopping time in actual shops, using the rest of the time to shop remotely via the internet. This compares to 28 percent of people last year. Meanwhile the proportion of people spending over half of their shopping time in high street shops has dropped from 41 percent last year to 39 percent this year. Just 2 percent of people said that they are looking forward to dealing wi.th store staff this festival season.

Guy Boxall, senior product marketing manager at Casio Business Solutions Division, which commissioned the research from YouGov, said that despite the fall in people visiting the high street,humans are "social creatures" who actually like spending time together.

"Although the high street is facing a big challenge Christmas, retailers (零售商) should see this research as a challenge to improve the in-store shopping experience, rather than the nail in the coffin. We are social creatures, and the desire to spend time with each other, particularly at Christmas, is never going to go away," said Mr. Boxall.

1.According to the poll, in this year's Christmas       

A.about 7 % of the population will do both online and actual shopping

B.about 31% of shoppers will do half of their shopping in actual shops

C.about 39% of shoppers will do more than half of their shopping in actual shops

D.over three million shoppers will quit actual shopping just because of the long queues

2.What's the meaning of "turn-off" in Para.5?

A.Something that makes people lose heart

B.Something that makes people lose face

C.Something that makes people lose interest

D.Something that makes people lose courage

3.It can be inferred from Mr. Boxall's words that                                                                                                   

A.retailers should reduce their in-store goods.

B.retailers wiR be pessimistic about the result of this research.

C.retailers should focus on the advantage of in-store shopping.

D.retailers will make more profits this Christmas than last Christmas

4.Wheat's the writer's attitude towards Christmas online shopping?

A.Concerned.        B.Doubtful.          C.Approving.        D.Objective.

 

As the railroads and the highways shaped the American West in the past centuries, a new electrical generating(发电)and transmission (输送) system for the 21st century will leave a lasting mark on the West, for better or worse. Much of the real significance of railroads and highways is not in their direct physical effect on the scenery, but in the ways that they affect the surrounding community. The same is true of big solar plants and the power lines that will be laid down to move electricity around.

The 19 th century saw land grants(政府拨地) offered to railroad companies to build the transcontinental railroads, leaving public land in between privately owned land. In much of the West, some of the railroad sections were developed while others remained undeveloped, and in both cases the landownership has presented unique challenges to land management. With the completion of the interstate highway system, many of the small towns, which sprang up as railway stops and developed well, have lost their lifeblood and died.

Big solar plants and their power lines will also have effects far beyond their direct footprint in the West. This is not an argument against building them. We need alternative energy badly, and to really take advantage of it we need to be able to move electricity around far more readily than we can now.

So trade-offs will have to be made. Some scenic spots will be sacrificed. Some species(物种) will be forced to move, or will be carefully moved to special accommodations. Deals will be struck to reduce the immediate effects.

The lasting effects of these trade-offs are another matter. The 21st century development of the American West as an ideal place for alternative energy is going to throw off a lot of power and money in the region. There are chances for that power and money to do a lot of good. But it is just as likely that they will be spent wastefully and will leave new problems behind, just like the railroads and the highways.

The money set aside in negotiated trade-offs and the institutions that control it will shape the West far beyond the immediate footprint of power plants and transmission lines. So let’s remember the effects of the railroads and the highways as we construct these new power plants in the West.

1.What was the problem caused by the construction of the railways?

A.Small towns along the railways became abandoned.

B.Land in the West was hard to manage.

C.Some railroad stops remained underused.

D.Land grants went into private hands.

2.What is the major concern in the development of alternative energy according to the last two paragraphs?

A.The use of money and power.

B.The transmission of power.

C.The conservation of solar energy.

D.The selection of an ideal place.

3.What is the author’s attitude towards building solar plants?

A.Disapproving.      B.Approving.         C.Doubtful.          D.Cautious.

4.Which is the best title for the passage?

A.How the Railways Have Affected the West

B.How the Effects of Power Plants Can Be Reduced

C.How Solar Energy Could Reshape the West

D.How the Problems of the Highways Have Been Settled

 

Talking on a mobile phone is expensive, so a lot of people send text messages. Text messages are much cheaper than talking on a mobile phone, and you can make it cheaper by making the words shorter. You can do this by taking out “unimportant” letters in the words and using numbers instead of words (2 =" to," 3 =" free," 4 =" for," 8 =" ate," so h8 =" hate," etc.). You can also keep away from using punctuation (标点).       Here is an example: Do U wnt 2 g 2 th cnma tnite (Do you want to go to the cinema tonight?)

What do you think these text messages mean?

Whr hv U bn? Iv bn wtng hrs fr a cll.

Im hm nw, why nt gv me a cll.

I gt a txt mssge frm my frnd. Shes hvng a prty on Strdy.

Mobile phone users have developed a group of symbols (符号) to show how they feel. They are called emoticons, and there are some examples below. To read an emoticon, you have to look at it sideways. For example, if you say something in a text message that is a joke, you can follow it with a smiling face.

1.Why are text messages popular?

A.Because they are expensive.

B.Because they are cheap.

C.Because they are hard to write.

D.Because they are not important.

2.The first paragraph tells us that we can make the text messages shorter in             ways.

A.one

B.two

C.three

D.four

3.What does this text message “Do U wnt 2 cm?” mean? It means “                   ?”.

A.Do you want to come

B.Do you wear two caps

C.Do you want two cakes

D.Do you go home early

4.Why do people use emoticons?

A.Because they can show how users feel.

B.Because the symbols are beautiful.

C.Because text messages are short.

D.Because the users can’t make the words shorter.

 

违法和不良信息举报电话:027-86699610 举报邮箱:58377363@163.com

精英家教网