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． Colouring, for example, varies according to what the producers are trying to sell．Health foods are packaged （包装） in greens, yellows or browns because we think of these as healthy colours．Ice cream packets are often blue and expensive goods, like chocolates, are gold or silver．

When some kind of pain killer was brought out recently, researchers found that the colours turned the customers off because they made the product look weak and ineffective．

Eventually, it came on the market in a dark blue and white package—blue because we think of it as safe, and white as calm． The size of a product can attract a shopper．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 per cent of the total cost of the product itself on packaging!

The most successful producers know that it’s not enough to have a good product．The founder of Pears soap, who for 25 years has used pretty little girls to promote （推销） their goods, came to the conclusion: “Any fool can make soap, but it takes a genius to sell it．”

Which of the following may trick a shopper into buying a product according to the text?

       A．The cost of its package．         B．The price of the product．

       C．The colour of its package．       D．The brand name of the product．

The underlined part “the colours turned the customers off”（in Par A．3 ） means that the colours _____．

       A．attracted the customers strongly         B．had weak effects on the customers

       C．tricked the customers into shopping      D．caused the customers to lose interest

Which of the following is the key to the success in product sales?

       A．The way to promote goods．               B．The discovery of a genius．

       C．The team to produce a good product．   D．The brand name used by successful producers．

Which of the following would be the best title for this text?

       A．Choice of Good Products                     B．Disadvantages of Products

       C．Effect of Packaging on Shopping         D．Brand Names and Shopping Tricks

  If we bought only things we needed, there would be enough for everybody. What do we need? What you need depends on how old you are and your way of life. Rearrange the list of things you can buy and put the things you think we most need at the top of the list.

   Coat             Designer jeans          Water       CD player

  Dental check up   Restaurant meal     Telephone   Jewelry

  Food          Shampoo             MP3 player  Beer

  Toothpaste        Bar of chocolate        Cushion covers

     If we don’t need to buy so much, we don’t need to work so much. We can take part-time jobs or reduce our working day from eight hours to six hours. Some people are leaving very well paid jobs to live a healthier life in the countryside or a more exciting life abroad. Parents can spend more time with their children and the unemployed are given more opportunities to work.

   If we start to respect saving the earth more than spending money, we will become ‘conservers’ (保护者). When we are conservers, we try to choose environmentally friendly products that last a long time. We may find growing our own vegetables or making our own clothes more rewarding than buying them.

   Next time you go shopping, think about what you really need to buy. Don’t deprive (剥夺) yourself of things you like, but decide what you should buy before you go out, so that you won’t be influenced by advertisements or promotions. If it is more expensive to buy goods that don’t have much packaging and things that are more durable (耐用的), buy less. If you can choose to work less, decide which things you would like to make, do or grow yourself. Even though you have less money, your life will become richer.

                                                 by Julie Bray

1. From the passage, we can see the author suggests us consumers ______.

  A. find out more about a product instead of buying blindly

  B. consider what we really need before going shopping

  C. avoid regret at not buying enough

  D. find a real bargain

2.. The writer will agree with you if you buy products that are ______.

  A. beautifully packaged       B. extremely cheap

  C. usable for a long time         D. fashionable now

3. According to the passage, if we don’t need to buy so much, the benefits  

  will include ______.

  a. we will have more time enjoying life

  b. the employment rate will increase

  c. we will get better paid jobs

  d. we as consumers will have more choices of what to buy

  A. abc    B. abd       C. ab      D. ad

4.This passage is mainly written to _____.

  A. persuade people to buy less and buy environmentally friendly products

  B. put forward some questions so that you can become a smart buyer

  C. introduce some good ways to make a wiser choice when shopping

  D. criticize the consumer society in which people buy too much

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

Could you give me a hand __________from the car, please?

A. to carry the shopping             

B. for carrying the shopping

C. and carrying the shopping         

D. carrying the shopping

Shopping is not as simple as you may think! There are all sorts of tricks each time we reach out for that particular brand（品牌）of product on the shelf.
Colouring, for example, varies according to what the producers are trying to sell. Health foods are packaged（包装）in greens, yellows or browns because we think of these as healthy colours. Ice cream packets（包装） are often blue and expensive goods, like chocolates, are gold or silver.
When some kind of pain-killer （止痛药） was brought out recently, researchers found that the colours turned the customers off because they made the product look weak and ineffective. Eventually, it came on the market in a dark blue and white package — blue because we think of it as safe, and white as calm.
The size of a product can attract a shopper. 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 that it’s not enough to have a good product. The founder of Pears Soap, who for 25 year has used pretty little girls to promote（促销）their goods, came to the conclusion: “Any fool can make soap, but it takes a genius（天才） to sell it.”
【小题1】. Which of the following may trick a shopper into buying a product according to the text?