In 1837, the historian Carlyle made the first recorded use of the word " queue" (排队).He

spoke of the French and their "habit of standing in a queue".Forty years later Paris was the best

place to wait in line.

       However, queuing became popular in Britain too.The Second World War was the golden age

of queuing, and people joined any line in the hope that it was a queue for something to buy.This

was the source of many Second World War jokes:

       Shopkeeper to customer: Excuse me, miss, are you pregnant (怀孕)?

       Customer:             Well, I wasn't when I joined the queue.

       Today, according to research in America, we (in Britain) can spend up to 5 years of our lives

queuing - as compared to twelve months looking for things we have lost.But things may be changing.

       Many people no longer have the patience to stand in a queue.The law of the jungle (丛林) has begun to operate at bus stops, with people using their arms to push others out of the way.

       One way to make life easier is to introduce "queue management".Customers at supermarket

cheese counters can now take a ticket with a number which appears on a screen when it is their

turn.And while they wait for their number, they can do a bit of shopping.

       In some booking offices there is also a system telling customers how long they may have to wait before they are served.

       One of the latest technical progress is the use of an electronic scanner (电子识别器) which

can read all the contents of your shopping basket or trolley in just a few seconds.If these become

popular, queuing in supermarkets may become a thing of the past.

       But some people just like queuing.One man queued all night for Harrods famous January sale, and then returned home for breakfast at nine o' clock the next morning without going into the shop.

68.The joke in Paragraph 2 implies that the young woman _______.

       A.has been waiting in the queue for a long time

       B.doesn't need to stand in the queue

       C.enjoys standing in the queue

       D.has stood in the wrong line

69.According to the passage, which of the following is true?

       A.The British spend more time queuing than looking for lost things.

       B.The Americans criticized the British for their way of queuing.

       C.The British are always patient when they wait in line.

       D.People queue only when they want to buy something.

70.The British try to solve the problem of queuing by all the following EXCEPT _______.

       A.making a law to prevent queuing

       B.telling the customers the waiting time

       C.using numbered tickets to put the customers in order

       D.checking the price of the goods customers buy with a scanner

71.We can infer from the passage that ________.

       A.queue management doesn't work well

       B.there is still queuing in England

       C.we don't see much queuing in Paris

       D.the French like queuing more than the British

It’s a goal for millions and millions of families every year——keep the Christmas spending within a certain amount, but can still afford the gifts that your loved ones will enjoy. Never has this concern been greater in recent years than right now. Even so, there are several things that you can do to help.

         Hit the sales.

No one wants to get up at four o’clock in the morning and fight to get the best deal on Black Friday, and it’s surely very tough to pick up the courage and get out there in the cold for a good deal, but sometimes——it can be well worth. Many retailers(零售商) offer specials all through the day——and some even offer online Black Friday specials, so you may still be able to get a great deal on Black Friday.

         Pay close attention to advertisements.

Once the Christmas shopping season is coming, retailers hungry for business will do just about whatever to get you in the store. Pay very close attention to weekly advertisements of sales among the major retailers and you may be lucky enough to find different prices for the same thing in different shops.

         Shop online.

Some of us don’t like running from store to store in order to get the best price on the perfect gift, and some of us don’t like to go out in the cold at all——thankfully for us, we can do online shopping.

         The world of online shopping lets people visit all the major retailers as well as some specialty stores that could only be found on the Internet. Customers can find exactly what they are looking for, at the best possible price without ever having to leave the house. With traditional Christmas shopping consumers are sometimes limited to what’s left in stock if they wait too long to get to a particular store.

1. The first paragraph implies that ______.

         A. nowadays not many people can afford expensive gifts

         B. recently many people don’t want to spend money on gifts

         C. Christmas is a time to make our loved ones enjoy their gifts

         D. Christmas is a time to make us feel free to buy our loved ones gifts

2. In the writer’s opinion, it is rewarding on Black Friday _____.

         A. if the weather is not very cold                       B. if we don’t have to fight for the best deals

         C. if we don’t have to get up early                     D. If we get what we want at a good price

 

3.The underlined word “specials” means_______.

         A. some experts in shopping                               B. certain things for especially low price

         C. some kind of help for a certain customer   D. things that can only be found on Friday

4. We can have more choices _____.

         A. on Black Friday                                                   B. in a particular store

         C. on the Internet                                                  D. from retailers

5.In this passage the writer means ______.

         A. to tell us the best way to do shopping

B. to attract more readers to do wise shopping

         C. to show us how hard it is to do Christmas shopping

         D. to give us advice on how to get a good deal at Christmas time

 

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