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Passage 3
Questions 11 to 15 are based on the following passage:
Unlike their American or European counterparts, car salesmen in Japan work hard to get a buyer. Instead of lying lazily around showrooms waiting for customers to drop by, many Japanese car salesmen still go out to get them. They walk wearily along the streets cars door-to-door. New customers are hunted with
fruit and cakes on their birthdays. But life is getting tough, and not just because new-car sales are falling.
With more Japanese women (who often control the household budget) going out to work, the salesmen increasingly find nobody at home when they call. That means another visit in the evening or the weekend. Then they face an extra problem: more people, especially the young, prefer to choose a new car from a
showroom where they can compare different models.
Even as late as the mid-1980s some 90% of new cars were sold door-to-door. In some rural areas most new cars are still sold this way. But in the big cities more than half the new cars are now sold from showrooms.
Although investing in showrooms is expensive because of the high cost of Japanese land, dealers have little choice. A labor shortage and higher among Japan’s workforce are making it difficult to hire
door-to-door salesmen. Most of a Japanese car salesman’s working day is spent doing favors for customers, like arranging insurance or picking up vehicles for servicing, rather than actually selling.
Japan’s doorstep car salesmen are not about to vanish. The personal service they provide is so deep-rooted in Japan that they are likely to operate alongside the glittering new showrooms. The two systems even complement each other. What increasingly happens is that the showroom attracts the interest of a potential buyer, giving the footsore salesmen a firm lead to follow up with a home visit.
11. Japanese car sales usually do not wait at showrooms for customers to drop by; instead, .
A. they sell cars door-to-door
B. they buy presents for their customers
C. they enjoy themselves in recreation centers
D. they go out to do market researches
12. Implied but stated: the competition in car market is .
A. light B. moderate C. fierce D. unfair
13. Young people like to buy a new car .
A. at home B. from a showroom
C. made in the U.S.A. D. made in Japan
14. The squadron of Japanese car salesmen is reducing because of .
A. a labor shortage
B. higher expectations among Japan’s workforce
C. high cost land
D. both A and B
15. Japanese car salesmen to their customers many favors such as .
A. showing them around in an exhibition
B. arranging insurance
C. paying them a visit on weekends
D. selling ole cars for them
Passage 4
Questions 16 to 20 are based on the following passage:
I recently wrote an autobiography in which I recalled many old memories. One
of them was from my school days, when our ninth grade teacher, Miss Raber, would
pick out words from the Reader’s Digest to test our vocabulary.
Today, more than 45 years later, I always check out “It pays to Enrich Your
Word Power” first when the Digest comes each month. I am impressed with that
idea, word power. Reader’s Digest knows the power that words have to move
people—to entertain, inform, and inspire. The Digest editors know that the big
word isn’t always the best word. Take just one example, a Quotable Quote form
the February 1985 issue: ”Time is a playful thing. It slips quickly and drinks
the day like a bowl of milk.”
Nineteen words, only two of them more than one syllable, yet how much they
convey! That’s usually how it is with Reader’s Digest. Small and simple can be
profound.
As chairman of a foundation to restore the Statue of Liberty, I’ve been
making a lot of speeches lately. I try to keep them fairly short. I use small
but vivid words: words like “hope”, “guts”, “faith”, “dreams”. Those are words
that move people and say so much about the spirit of America.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not against using big words, when it is right to do
so, but I have also learned that a small word can work a small miracle—if it’s
right word, in the right place, at the right time. It’s a “secret” that I hope
never forget.
16. The passage is mainly about .
A. one of the many old memories
B. using simple words to express profound ideas
C. Reader’s Digest and school speeches
D. how to make effective speeches
17. It seems that Reader’s Digest is a magazine popular with .
A. people of all ages B. teenagers C. school teachers D. elderly readers
18. The example the author gives in the second paragraph might mean .
A. one spends his day playing and drinking
B. don’t waste your time as one does
C. time slips easily if you don’t make good use of it
D. time is just like drinking milk from a bowl
19. The author’s “secret” is .
A. to avoid using big words at any time
B. to use words that have the power to move people
C. to work a miracle by using a small word
D. to use small and simple words where possible
20. Accoeding to the author, well-chosen words can give people .
A. hope, courage and ideas
B. confidence, determination and strength
C. pleasure, knowledge and encourage
D. entertainment, information and power
Questions 16 to 20 are based on the following passage: