Local businessmen are increasingly facing competition from online retailers. Larry Pollock, owner of Camera Co/Op on South Congress, said he has been dealing with this kind of problem for years, even before the Internet. The struggle began with mail-order catalogues(目录), which are similar to online retailers in that they have few employees to pay, no sales tax fees and no business venue to lease and manage.
“Their overhead is lower, but they don’t offer a service like we do,” Pollock said.
Pollock, however, said providing a valuable service to customers does not always guarantee continued sales.
“We spend 30 minutes to an hour with somebody and they go home and buy it on line,” he said.
According to the state comptroller’s office, online shopping is developing at a more rapid rate than traditional businesses.
In spite of how fair or unfair online shopping may be to the local businessmen, consumers will continue to turn to the Internet for its variety and accessibility, said Mitch Wilson, an online shopper. “You have a larger selection and it's easier to compare prices.”
Wilson said he built his personal computer and paid a third of the price by shopping on line.
“Before the Internet, I would have had to go and buy an assembled computer from somebody like Dell,” he said. “Before I started shopping on line I could never find all the pieces I wanted. No single store had everything needed, so shopping on line saved me from having to buy from Dell.”
Janny Brazeal, a psychology freshman, said online shopping is too impersonal.
“’d rather see it in person, touch it, know that I’m getting it,” she said.
Brazeal also said she would not give out her credit card number or other personal information on line no matter how safe the site claims it is.
1.Larry Pollock has been facing the problem _____.
A. before long
B. after the Internet
C. since there were mail-order catalogues
D. since he worked as a businessman
2.According to the passage, which of the following is WRONG?
A. Traditional business can provide valuable ser- vices to customers.
B. People can get cheaper goods from traditional business.
C. More and more people will turn to the Internet for their needs.
D. There are still many people who don’t like on- line shopping.
3. Mitch Wilson prefers to build his personal compu- ter by shopping on line because _____.
A. he can easily get what he needs at a lower price
B. he can not get the price at traditional businessman
C. he is not satisfied with the service of local busi- nessman
D. the quality of Dell is not satisfying
One of India’s top engineering schools has restricted Internet access in its boarding houses, saying addiction to surfing, gaming and blogging was affecting students' performance, making them lonely and even suicidal.
Authorities at the best Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Mumbai said students had stopped socializing and many were late for morning classes or slept through them. “Now, a student doesn’t even know who lives two doors away from him because he is so busy on the Internet,” said Prakash Gopalan, dean of student affairs. “The old dormitory culture of companionship and socializing among students is gone. This is not healthy in our opinion.”
IIT-Mumbai, with about 5,000 students, is one of seven IITs across India which are considered to be among the finest engineering schools in the world. They are also a talent pool for global technology giants. But their hard courses, tough competition and lonely campus lifestyle have taken an effect on students. Depressive and dysfunctional(不正常的) lifestyles are known to be common among IIT students, and at least nine have committed suicide in the past five years. Students have unlimited free Internet access in their boarding houses to help them in their studies, but many also use it to surf, chat, download movies and music, blog and for gaming.
Starting Monday, Internet access will be banned between 11 p.m. and 12.30 p.m. at IIT-Mumbai’s 13 boarding buildings to encourage students to sleep early and to try and force them out of their “shells”, Gopalan said. But the move has not gone down well with students who say they hate their lives being regulated. “Now they will say we need to listen to a lullaby(摇篮曲) to go to sleep,” said Rajiv, an electronics student.
1. What measure has been taken in IIT- Mumbai?
A. Students have unlimited free Internet access in their dormitories.
B. Students are forbidden to surf the Internet.
C. Internet access is unavailable in deep night.
D. Students must go to bed before 11 p.m.
2. In the passage the students are told to _____.
A. sleep through their lessons
B. break away from the Internet
C. go to sleep along with music
D. stop surfing, make friends
3. We may infer from the last paragraph that _____.
A. the banning order causes some complaints among the students
B. all electronics students hate the banning order
C. more students prefer listening to music to surf- ing the Internet
D. there is no Internet access on the IIT campus even
A daughter thought life was unpromising(无前途的) to her and complained to her father about it. She did not know how she was going to and wanted to give up. She was of fighting and struggling. It seemed as if one problem was just solved before a new one .
Her father, a cook, took her to the . He filled three pots with water and placed each on a high
. Soon the pots came to the . In one he placed carrots, in the second he placed eggs, and the last he placed ground coffee beans. He let them sit and boil, without saying a word.
The daughter sucked her teeth and waited, asking repeatedly what he was doing. In about twenty minutes he turned off the He fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. He pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then he spooned the coffee out and placed it in another. Turning to her he asked, “Darling, what do you see?”
“Carrots, eggs, and coffee,” she replied.
He brought her closer and asked her to
the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. He then asked her to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the , she observed the hard-boiled egg! Finally, he asked her to taste the coffee. She smiled she tasted its rich flavor. She humbly asked, “What does it mean, Father?”
He explained that each of them had faced the same , boiling water, but each differ-
ently. The carrot went in and hard. But after being subjected to the boiling water, it and became weak. The egg had been . Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior. But after sitting the boiling water, its inside became hardened. The ground coffee beans were unique, . After they were in the boiling water, they had the water.
“Which are you?” he asked his daughter. “When adversity(逆境) knocks on your door, do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?”
1. A. make outB. make it
C. make upD. make through
2.A. typicalB. conscious
C. tiredD. warned
3. A. raisedB. arose
C. disappearedD. faded
4.A. roomB. market
C. kitchenD. grocery
5. A. shelfB. temperature
C. fireD. table
6. A. boilB. cool
C. hotD. smoke
7. A. happilyB. calmly
C. casuallyD. impatiently
8. A. lightsB. burners
C. tapD. water
9. A. seeB. carryC. feelD. fetch
10. A. shellB. packC. bagD. cover
11. A. sinceB. asC. beforeD. if
12. A. occasionB. point
C. varietyD. adversity
13. A. reflectedB. answered
C. abandonedD. reacted
14.A. stableB. weak
C. strongD. sensitive
15. A. softenedB. widened
C. shortenedD. sharpened
16. A. half-doneB. easily-broken
C. easily-gotD. hard-boiled
17. A. overB. forC. throughD. on
18. A. howeverB. otherwise
C. besidesD. moreover
19.A. meltedB. absorbed
C. pollutedD. changed
20. A. whatB. howC. whenD. why
—If our parents listened to us more, they would understand us better.
—_______, but unfortunately they just expect us to do what we are told to.
A. I believe notB. I can’t agree more
C. Good ideaD. No problem
I’m amazed to hear from my school teacher again. _______, it is ten years since we met last.
A. In a wordB. What’s more
C. That’s to sayD. Believe it or not
(2012·衡水高二检测)—I’ll help you prepare for the party on Wednesday.
—Please don’t _______. My sisters have promised to help me.
A. promiseB. annoy
C. botherD. disturb
