In many types of face-to-face retailing (零售), it pays to size up your customer and change your price accordingly. The Internet, by allowing nameless browsing and rapid price-comparing, was supposed to mean low and equal prices for all. Now, however, online retailers are being offered software that helps them detect shoppers who can afford to pay more or are in a hurry to buy, so as to present more expensive products to them or simply charge more for the same product.
Cookies stored in shoppers’ web browsers (浏览器) may show where else they have been looking, giving some clues as to their income and price-sensitivity. A shopper’s Internet address may be linked to his physical address, letting sellers offer, say, one price for a rich area, another for a poor area. Doug Bryan of iCrossing, a digital-marketing consultancy, explains that the most up-to-date “price customisation (定制化)” software can collate (对照) such clues with documents of individual shoppers that Internet sellers buy from online-data-aggregation firms. All this is fairly cheap, he says.
One of the few big online firms that admit to using such techniques is Orbitz, a travel website. Its software detects whether people browsing its site are using an Apple Mac or a Windows PC and, since it has found that Mac users tend to choose more expensive hotels, which are what it recommends to them. Orbitz stresses that it does not charge people different rates for the same rooms, but some online firms are believed to be doing just that, for example by charging full whack (份儿) for those who are willing and able to pay it, while offering discounts to the rest.
Allocating (配置) discounts with price-customisation software typically brings in two to four times as much money as offering the same discounts at random, claims Ravi Vijayaraghavan of [24]7, a Bangalore-based firm that develops and operates such software. One way to do this is to monitor how quickly shoppers click through towards the online seller’s payment page: those who already seem set on buying need not be attracted with a special offer.
Andrew Fano, a consultant in Accenture’s Chicago office, believes that at least six of America’s ten biggest web retailers are now customising prices in some way, but it is hard for shoppers to spot when this is going on. If they knew, many would feel that it is “pushing the boundaries” of fairness. Companies should be careful to escape the painful experience pioneered (率先做) by Amazon in the autumn of 2000. It was said that the Internet giant was selling DVDs at different prices, to see which browsers happened to be favored by shoppers least concerned about cost. The resulting backlash (激烈反应) prompted it to refund those who paid more.
Users of price-customisation software have so far been unwilling to monitor potential customers’ social media pages, for fear that this would cause a privacy backlash. But the operators at the call centres that [24]7 runs for its clients are beginning to scan Twitter for information on the shoppers they are talking to — and sometimes their tweets give useful clues about whether a discount is needed to make the sale.
1.According to Paragraph 1, online retailers are benefiting from _____.
A. knowing more about their customers
B. charging high prices for their goods
C. making their prices competitive
D. making price comparisons
2.Online retailers use price customisation software to _____.
A. locate customers’ addresses
B. guide customers to their products
C. create documents for old customers
D. judge customers’ purchasing power
3.The example of Amazon in Paragraph 5 is mentioned to show it _____.
A. practices price customisation successfully
B. gets into trouble for unfair pricing
C. pioneers the use of pricing software
D. finds out the browsers favoured most by shoppers
4.Why weren’t social media pages monitored by online retailers?
A. [24] 7 has occupied the market.
B. Social networks block pricing software.
C. Online retailers are afraid of causing angry reaction.
D. Social media users are not interested in discounts.
5.The author’s attitude towards price customisation software is _____.
A. positive B. negative
C. objective D. unconcerned
6.Which would be the best title for the passage?
A. Online price competition
B. Personalizing online prices
C. Problems of price facing online retailers
D. Online retailers’ pricing methods
According to the most recent census (人口普查) figures, nearly half of women between the ages of 15 and 44 don’t have children. Half of women is a lot of women, and yet, advertisers continue to behave as though they don’t exist. “The majority of marketing talks to adult women like they are all moms or want to be mothers,” Adrianna Bevilaqua, chief creative officer at M Booth, a public relations company, told The New York Times.
Industry experts explained to The Times that the absence of childless women in marketing materials is likely the result of inertia (惯性). Advertisers have long targeted moms because they buy their goods. In 2015, American moms were in charge of $3.4 trillion worth of spending decisions, which makes them the largest consumer group in the United States.
While they might not have the collective spending power of moms — many of whom, I suspect, would be very happy to give up some power of choosing laundry detergent (洗衣粉) in exchange for power of choosing something else with equal pay — childless women also have the potential to improve a business’ bottom line. One report has found that they spend twice as much on beauty products as women with children, and spend 60 percent more time abroad. The Times also notes that they spend 35 percent more on groceries than moms.
Of course, advertising has had a long time to adapt to the ongoing change in gender (性别) roles, and still, brands has made sexist ads that many find degrading (降低品格的). And even when brands do try to get with the times, as is the case with Dove and Pantene, many women still think them unpleasant. These critics are angry about the way such campaigns overstate female empowerment when, in reality, such empowerment is far from being fully realized.
Earlier this year, ad agency Saatchi & Saatchi researched moms’ understanding of their representation in advertising and found that they weren’t happy either. They surveyed nearly 8,000 women from around the world, the majority of whom responded with feelings of frustration (挫败) at the outdated mom images, including the busy mom and the saintly (神圣的) and perfectionist mom we so often see. Above all, they resented the view of motherhood as a job. “Motherhood is about being, not doing,” said Mary Mills, worldwide director of strategic intelligence from Saatchi & Saatchi, when describing the findings.
So as it turns out, both childless women and moms are motivated by the same desire. They want advertisers to let go of motherhood as an all-consuming identity for women and instead present them as the varied and unique beings they’ve long known themselves to be.
1.What can we learn from the passage?
A. Few American women do not want to have children.
B. Moms are happy because they are targeted by advertisers.
C. Moms were the largest consumer group in America in 2015.
D. Half of American women have no children according to the recent census figures.
2.What does Paragraph 3 mainly talk about?
A. Childless women spend mainly on beauty products and travel.
B. A report about women’s spending power has been produced.
C. Moms spend less on groceries than childless women.
D. Childless women’s spending power is not lower than that of moms.
3.What does the underlined word “resented” mean in Paragraph 5?
A. Respected. B. Hated.
C. Misunderstood. D. Formed.
4.What’s the main idea of the passage?
A. Moms’ representation in advertising has been researched by ad agencies.
B. Most American women want to be seen as unique beings.
C. Advertisers should pay attention to childless women.
D. Advertisers misunderstand moms’ images.
When Ruben Rausing presented a new idea for packaging milk in 1952 many people shook their heads in disbelief. The invention, which he named Tetra Pak, looked like a miniature pyramid and was made out of paper. Some feared it would leak (渗漏); others said they would much rather stick to glass bottles.
In spite of this resistance (抵制), Rausing did not give up. Today his ideas are used all over the world. Since the 1950s, the Rausings have become one of the four richest families in the world. They run an international company producing some 30-40 billion units a year of packaging, for milk, cream, soft drinks and even table wine.
Ruben Rausing's idea was that milk should be packaged in a way similar to how sausage meat is crammed (塞入) into a skin. He invented a machine that produced a long paper tube that could be cut off and sealed at both ends after having been filled with milk.
His first model, the pyramid-shaped Tetra, soon became a hit. Shoppers found it lighter to carry than traditional milk bottles. But it had a serious disadvantage — it was taking up too much space in the fridge. So Rausing went on to make a small box. This model was easier to store, and is today the most common kind of packaging in many countries throughout the world. In Europe, one out of two milk packages are made from the Rausing empire. It has conquered a big market share in Asia and Australia. Ruben Rausing was not only a clever inventor. He also understood how to run a successful business. He and his two sons, Gad and Hans, built up Tetra Pak as a family-owned group of some 40 companies, almost all of them in the packaging industry.
Though their products are famous, the Rausings live a secluded life. They are wary of showing off their wealth and so try to avoid publicity, particularly since an attempt was made to kidnap (绑架) one of the family members some years ago.
1.Which word can best describe Rausing?
A. Short-sighted. B. Self-centered.
C. Warm-hearted. D. Strong-minded.
2.Compared with the first type of Tetra Pak, the second one was _____.
A. harder B. smaller
C. less common D. more expensive
3.What can we learn from the passage?
A. People felt hopeful about Tetra Pak at first.
B. Rausing succeeded in many different industries.
C. Rausing controlled half of Asia’s milk production.
D. The Rausings are careful about showing off their wealth.
The United States International Photography Contest for Kids held by National Geographic begins August 1, 2017, and ends October 15, 2017. All mail-in entries (参赛作品) must be postmarked (盖上邮戳) by October 15, 2017, and received by October 22, 2017. Online entries must be received by 11:59 p.m. on October 15, 2017. Entries will not be returned. No entry fee necessary to enter or win. Many will enter, few will win.
Who may enter
Contest is open only to legal residents (居民) of the United States who are between the ages of 6 and 14 at the time of entry. Employees and officers of National Geographic, and their immediate family members are not allowed to enter or win a prize.
How to enter
The categories (类别) for entries are: (1) Amazing Animals (photos of pets, zoo animals, or wild animals), (2) Dare to Explore (photos of outdoor scenery), and (3) Wild Vacation (photos taken during vacation travels). Each competitor may submit (提交) entries in any category he / she wishes and may submit entries to different categories, but no competitors may submit in total more than one entry per category.
Cool prizes
One grand-prize winner will be chosen from the four first-place winners in this contest. The grand prize is a 10-day Galápagos Family Adventure.
First-place winners will win a camera; their winning photo will be published on animaljam.com; and they will be entered into the Worldwide National Geographic International Photography Contest for Kids for a chance to win the international grand-prize trip. The international grand-prize winner will win a 5-day trip to Washington D.C.
Second-place winners will win National Geographic magazines, and their winning photo will be published on animaljam.com.
1.What can we learn about the contest?
A. Photos of pets are allowed.
B. Competitors should pay for it.
C. Images of indoor activities are preferred.
D. Each competitor can submit only one photo.
2.What will the first-place winners of the contest win?
A. A Galápagos Family Adventure.
B. A trip to Washington D.
C. C. Magazines.
D. A camera.
I have just returned from the 3rd Annual International Weight Stigma (羞耻) conference held this year in Iceland. I was invited to give a(n) ____, as I’ve been doing research on weight and health and sharing my findings for the last five years. I ___ expecting to have a pleasant time and learn a few things.
What I learned ____ me. I learned something about myself that I had no idea was true.
As a woman considered fat and a(n) ____ speaker on the topic of weight and stigma, I thought I was more or less immune (免疫的) to fat hatred. I had a few examples of weight-based discrimination (歧视) ____ my way. And they usually didn’t ____ me because I knew they came from a place of ignorance and hatred. What I didn’t know was that despite all my knowledge and ____ and relative privilege (特权), I had ____ been affected by discrimination every day. But somehow I didn’t think weight stigma ____ to me. I thought my knowledge protected me from having such ____.
However, I was ____, and understanding this has made me think about the millions of people in this world who ____ far more serious stigma and discrimination than I have experienced. I knew how discrimination could ____ us physically and psychologically. But I didn’t ____ know how serious the hurt could be until I attended the conference. And knowing that has ____ the way I understand myself and helped me I see stigma and discrimination in a ____ sense.
The world will ____ offer stigma to those who are different. ____ as several speakers at the conference said, difference doesn’t have to be connected with deviance (不正常). We should accept one another’s differences ____ hating them. We’re all different. And the way we ____ others’ differences can actually change their lives — for good or ill.
1.A. hand B. talk C. example D. interview
2.A. went B. stayed C. continued D. refused
3.A. scared B. annoyed C. shocked D. embarrassed
4.A. independent B. humorous C. serious D. frequent
5.A. come B. make C. work D. fight
6.A. interest B. upset C. confuse D. persuade
7.A. character B. research C. attention D. comfort
8.A. even B. also C. otherwise D. still
9.A. applied B. replied C. occurred D. compared
10.A. feeling B. failure C. attack D. darkness
11.A. wise B. safe C. wrong D. selfish
12.A. agree with B. start with C. live with D. play with
13.A. trick B. hurt C. punish D. limit
14.A. slowly B. truly C. recently D. shortly
15.A. changed B. interrupted C. suited D. balanced
16.A. strict B. wide C. common D. strange
17.A. thus B. then C. together D. always
18.A. But B. And C. So D. Or
19.A. through B. before C. without D. during
20.A. share B. find C. forgive D. treat
The film not only covers the causes of the war, but also _____ the influence of the frightening killings in detail.
A. deals with B. comes to
C. hands out D. makes up
