Reading
2 Scanning for a specific detail and skimming for general understanding
Scanning
leave是什么意思baronetwily, Wired Consumers
gpbThe Internet has empowered shoppers both online and offline.
A The amount of time people spend rearching, checking prices, visiting stores and eking advice from friends tends to ri in proportion to the value of the product they are thinking of buying. A new car is one of the biggest purchas people make, and buyers typically spend four to six weeks mulling over their choices. So why are some people now walking into car showrooms and ordering a vehicle without even asking for a test drive? Or turning up at an electrical store and pointing out the washing machine they want without eking advice from a sales assistant? Welcome to a new style of shopping shaped by the internet.
B More people are buying products online, especially at peak buying periods. The total value of e-commerce transactions in the United States in the fourth quarter of 2004 reached $18 billon, a 22% increa over the same period in 2003, according to the Department of Commerce in Washington DC. But that just reprents 2% of America’s total retail market and excludes rvices, such as online travel, the value of goods auctioned on the Internet, and the $34 billion-worth of goods that individuals trade on eBay.
武汉翻译C If you consider the Internet’s wider influence over what people spend their money on, then the figures escalate out of sight. Some carmakers in America now find that eight out of ten of their buyers have logged on to the Internet to gather information about not just the exact vehicle they want, but also the price they are going to pay. Similarly with consumer electronics, nowadays if a customer wants to know which flat-screen TV they should buy, they are likely to start their shopping online – even though the vast majority will not complete the transaction there.
D The Internet is moving the world clor to perfect product and price information. The additional knowledge it can provide makes consumers more lf-assured and bold enough to go into a car dealership and refu to bargain. As a result, the process of shopping is increasingly being divorced from the transaction itlf. Consumers might surf the web at night and hit the shops during the day. Visiting bricks-and-mortar stores can provide the final confirmation that the item or group of items that they are interested in is right for them.
E Far from losing trade to online merchants stores that offer the sorts of goods people find out about online can gain from this new form of consumer behaviour. This is provided they offer attractive facilities, good guarantees and low prices.
F Merchants who charge too much and offer poor rvice, however, should beware. The same,too, for shaky manufacturers: smarter consumers know which products have a good reputation and which do not, becau online they now read not only the sales blurb but also reviews from previous purchars. And if customers are disappointed, a few clicks of the mou will take them to places where they can let the world know.
G Some companies are already adjusting their business models to take account of the trends. The stores run by Sony and Apple, for instance, are more like brand showrooms than shops. They are there for people to try out devices and to ask questions of knowledge staff. Whether the products are ultimately bought online or offline is of condary importance. Online traders must also adjust. Amazon, for one, is rapidly turning from being primarily a bookller to becoming a mass retailer, by letting other companies ll products on its site, rather like a marketplace. Other transformations in the retail business are bound to follow.
sweet是什么意思1 Scan the Reading passage for the following details.(2min)
1 a large amount of money 4 two brand-name stores
2 a US government department 5 an Internet trading company
3 a percentage
Skimming
● read the title and subheading of the article on the next page and predict the content;
●skim the passage and say what it is about.
IELTS Reading test practice Short-answer questions
5 amelia earhartTake ten minutes to answer questions 1-6.
nantiSifting through the Sands of timesohe
When you’re on the beach, you’re stepping on ancient mountains, skeletons of marine animals, even tiny diamonds. Sand provides a mineral treature trove, a record of geology’s earth-changing process.
中文译韩文>openingsSand: as children we play on it and as adults we relax on it. It is something we complain about when it gets in our food, and prai when it’s moulded into castles. But we don’t often look at it. If we did, we would discover an account of a geological past and a history of marine life that goes back thousands and in some cas millions of years.
Sand covers not just ashores, but also ocean beds, derts and mountains. It is one of the most common substances on earth. And it is a major element in man-made items too – concrete is largely sand,while glass is made of little el.
What exactly is sand? Well, it is larger than fine dust and smaller than shingle. In fact, according to the most generally accepted scheme of measurement, devid by the Massachutts Institute of Technology, grains qualify if their diameter is greater than 0.06 of a millimeter and less than 0.6 of a millimeter.
Depending on its age and origin, a particular sand can consist of tiny pebbles or porous granules. Its grain may have the shape of stars or spirals, their edges jagged or smooth. They have come from the erosion of rocks, or from the skeletons of marine organisms which accumulate on the bottom of the oceans, or even from volcanic eruptions.
