When you see the Lion of Judah you do not think “e-commerce”. Its lower decks (甲板) have 467 beds where passengers sleep when travelling up the Amazon River. But when the Amazon’s largest department store, Bemol, started delivering to customers in the rainforest, these three-decker passenger boats were its chosen means of transport.
Bemol sold fridges and televisions in the traditional way from its stores in Manaus until 2018, when one of the founders’ grandsons, Denis Minev, took over. He suspected there were hundreds of thousands of customers up and down the Amazon that Bemol wasn’t reaching and decided to go to them.
But delivering parcels in the rainforest is difficult and expensive. Consumers in far places either had to pay up to 30% of the product’s price for shipping and wait a month or longer for the postal service to deliver it or spend money and time on shopping trips to Manaus. Mr Minev made what sounded like an impossible promise: to deliver an order placed online within a week for not more than the “Manaus price”.
Mr Minev’s experience at a cooking-gas firm, also owned by his family, showed him how challenging the Amazon’s delivery could be. So rather than bu his own boats, risking crashes, fuel theft and high debt, Mr Minev oulsourced (外包) delivery to the brightly painted ships that carry people and provisions around the region.
To encourage Amazonians to place their first online orders, Bemol set up Wi-Fi in every town where it launched e-commerce. Amazonians who lack savings or credit cards can use zero-interest loans starting at $26 to finance their purchases; 85% of Bemol’s online sales are paid for in this way. Bemol allows returns, but encourages customers to accept vouchers (代金券) instead. “The traditional e-commerce model without a physical presence doesn’t work in the Amazon,” says Mr Minev.
1. What does the underlined word “them” in paragraph 2 refer to?A.The founders of Bemol. | B.Bemol’s stores in Manaus. |
C.Customers along the Amazon. | D.Passengers on the Lion of Judah. |
A.They can obtain a discount of 30%. |
B.They can return products within a month. |
C.They can pay after receiving their ordered products. |
D.They can enjoy market prices and a fast delivery service. |
A.Bemol’s ways to increase online sales in the Amazon. |
B.Difficulties of launching e-commerce in the Amazon. |
C.The trend of placing online orders among Amazonians. |
D.The influence of e-commerce on Amanianc |
A.The rise of e-commerce | B.The challenge for Bemol |
C.Department stores online | D.Parcels in the rainforest |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】At the start of every working week, millions of people around the world get ready for something they do endlessly, joylessly and badly: a meeting.
The reason is simple, says Madeleine de Hauke, a meeting coach and teacher in an Antwerp Management School. “We spend our lives and huge amounts of money on meetings, but there’s very little work that helps people run them effectively.”
Madeleine is correct. Running a meeting well takes skill. People need to know ahead why they are meeting, what they are supposed to achieve, who really needs to be there and how they should contribute. That sounds obvious but it is not, as anyone who has been to a pointless meeting knows. Yet meeting leaders are expected to learn all this on the job. I cannot remember ever being taught how to organize a meeting, and I have rarely had a job requiring me to do it.
I also like Madeleine’s descriptions of what she calls the Meeting Monsters: people who destroy meetings with all sorts of annoying behaviors. There is the unkind off-topic speaker. The non-stop noise in the background. The confusing rambler whose speech is endless. The rude multi-tasker. The one who says nothing but emails later to say what was decided will never work.
The trouble is, we are all meeting monsters sometimes, says Madeleine. A good meeting leader knows how to stop this behavior, or make sure it never starts by making it clear what will and won’t be allowed.
A bad meeting is like a virus (病毒). By failing to produce good decisions it often requires another meeting to be held, then another and another. Luckily there is no need for a vaccine (疫苗), just a bit more care and preparation, and an understanding that there is no shame in being taught how to lead a meeting well.
1. What cause bad meetings according to the author?A.Boring meeting activities. | B.Untrained meeting leaders. |
C.Careless meeting coaches. | D.Unreasonable meeting schedules. |
A.Never stopping his chatter. | B.Scaring meeting attendees. |
C.Always raising questions. | D.Refusing to finish his tasks. |
A.It makes the attendees sick. | B.It fails to produce decisions. |
C.It results in more meetings. | D.It requires care and preparation. |
A.Spend More for Meeting Attendees | B.Get Ready for Bad Meetings |
C.Start the Week with a Meeting | D.Kill the Meeting Monsters |
【推荐2】A study by a team of Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) psychologists has found a link between extraverts (外向的人) and their word choices. The finding highlights the need for stronger linguistic indicators to be developed for use in online personality prediction tools, which are being rapidly adopted by companies to improve digital marketing strategies.
Today, marketing companies use predictive algorithms (算法) to help them forecast what consumers want based on their online behaviors. For example, an extravert consumer might be attracted to marketing messages that match their personality, and retail brands could then choose to target such consumers by using more extraverted and creative language to advertise their products. However, personality prediction tools available today that are used by marketing firms are not entirely accurate due to a lack of theoretically sound designs. This may lead to a weakness affecting the performance of the machine learning algorithms. This begs the question—how should we create robust and accurate personality predictions?
The study found a correlation between extraverts and their tendency to use certain categories of words. The results showed a small strength of relationship between extraversion and the use of “positive emotion words” and “social process words.”
Positive emotion words are defined as words that describe a pleasant emotional state, such as “love”, ”happy”, or “blessed”, or that indicate positivity or optimism, such as “beautiful” or “nice”. Social process words include words containing personal pronouns except “I”, and words showing social intentions, such as “meet”, “share” and “talk”.
Moving forward, the NTU research team will investigate the relationship between extraversion and other word categories. They hope their work will provide clarity on the types of words that can help guide the development of more accurate machine learning tools for personality prediction.
1. We learn from the passage the findings of the study can be used to help ______.A.observe consumers’ behavior |
B.forecast the need of companies |
C.create practical personality predictions |
D.find correlation between extraverts and ads |
A.Renewable. | B.Forceful. | C.Doubtful. | D.Variable. |
A.Dispute. | B.Interaction. | C.Disaster. | D.Loneliness. |
A.The direction of future research. |
B.The theoretical basis of the study. |
C.The strength of business strategies. |
D.The development of machine learning tools. |
【推荐3】Rich, heavy food is a major part of the end of the year holidays in the United States. People in the U.S. celebrate Thanksgiving on the third Thursday of November. People around the world celebrate Christmas on December 25. Both holidays involve (包含) traditions of cooking very large meals. The food at these meals usually has lots of sugar, salt, and butter in it. Turkey and pie are some of the most common foods in these holidays.
Terri Price has hosted a holiday party on the last Saturday before every Christmas for 30 years. It started when her children were very, very small. She has been preparing many of the dishes for most of the 30 years.
But over time, some traditions do change. The Neveldines are a family who hope to be healthier by changing what they eat. Mick Fury, the Neveldine’s oldest child, said this change is important during the holidays and the rest of the year, too.
Mick and his wife, Michelle, try to eat only organic food. Organic food is any plant or animal food product made without the use of unnatural chemicals or processes. But, Mick is not the only Neveldine who changed their diet. Felicia Neveldine, Mick’s sister, decided nine years ago to become a vegan. A vegan is a person who does not eat or use animal products of any kind.
Felicia became a vegan because of her concern for the treatment of animals and the environmental effects of animal farming. She said that her change in diet also improved her health.
Choosing these special diets means the Neveldines choose their foods carefully. Mick grows a garden behind his house where he gets fresh vegetables.
Holiday traditions may not change, but the way these traditions happen just might.
1. What does paragraph I mainly tell us?A.The end-of-year holidays is vital. |
B.Heavy food is rich in nutrition. |
C.Cooking large meals is a tradition in USA. |
D.Heavy food is popular in holidays for Americans. |
A.They have turned healthier. | B.They have given up the tradition. |
C.They have remained the same. | D.They have grown unhealthy. |
A.sportsman. | B.vegetarian. | C.dieter. | D.volunteer. |
A.Favorable. | B.Critical. | C.Objective. | D.Unclear. |
【推荐1】Last year, Liu Xiang, who lives alone in Shanghai, wrote an analysis of nearly 3,000 words on small home appliances that make living alone all the more pleasurable. Her take on these items, ranging from desk lamps and hair dryers to cooking machines, drew more than 100 replies, unusual for that specific section of the discussion group where 50 replies would normally put the topic in the hot category.
However, the interest shown to what to some may seem like a trifling matter should not really be that surprising given that in China 77 million people live alone. These solo dwellers, aged 20 to 39, are mostly engaged in high-paying jobs in fields like finance, so as a group they have tremendous spending power.
Home appliance makers and sellers are one of the main beneficiaries of the solo economy. Take Little Bears Electric Appliances. It has been expanding and updating its product line to target at the solo market, and half its 40 product categories are now singles-friendly.
A New York University sociology professor, Eric Klinenberg, said in his book Going Solo: The Extraordinary Rise and Surprising Appeal of Living Alone that the single society is becoming hugely powerful and an indicator of social change.
In 2018 and 2019 the Japanese video game Travel Frog became a hit in China. Actually, Travel Frog was a game that seemed to speak directly to those who keep the solo economy ticking. In it, a wayward (任性的) frog has become a baby people are keen on looking after. The frog never interacts with the player, eats alone, reads and does craft work at home and often sets out on journeys, sending postcards to the player letting him or her know its new location. The Travel Frog phenomenon was just one more sign of the increasing importance of the solo economy, with more and more people actively or passively accepting and enjoying their solitude.
Travelling alone is becoming a strong market opportunity. 75% of Ctrip’s self-operated tour groups have opened options for one-person travel, and it plans to develop more innovative products and services tailored to solo travelers.
In entertainment and recreation, too, the solo economy is changing how things work. Minikaraoke booths, self-service photo studios and self-service gyms have popped up on many comers in many cities.
1. Liu Xiang’s article about small home appliances is well-received by _____.A.those living all by themselves | B.a specific discussion group |
C.home appliance producers | D.people with high-paying jobs |
A.are innovative in design | B.are easy to use to any individual |
C.address the needs of the individual | D.are environmentally conscious |
A.They both seem to enjoy living alone. | B.They are both keen on travelling. |
C.They both stimulate the solo economy. | D.They both interact with others reluctantly. |
A.The popularity of solo dwelling. | B.The prospect of the solo market. |
C.The influence of living alone. | D.The rise of the solo economy. |
【推荐2】During the past generation, the American middle-class family that once could count on hard work and fair play to keep itself financially secure had been transformed by economic risk and new realities. Now an accident, a bad diagnosis, or a disappearing husband or wife can reduce a family from solidly middle class to newly poor in a few months.
In just one generation, millions of mothers have gone to work, transforming basic family economics. Scholars, policymakers, and critics seldom looked at the side effect: family risk has risen. Today’s families have budgeted to the limits of their new two-paycheck status. As a result, they have lost the parachute (降落伞) they once had in times of financial setback—a back-up earner(usually Mom)who could go into the workforce if the primary earner got laid off or fell sick. This “added-worker effect” could support the safety net offered by unemployment insurance or disability insurance to help families weather bad times. But today, a disruption (扰乱) to family fortunes can no longer be made up with extra income from an otherwise-stay-at-home partner.
During the same period, families have been asked to absorb much more risk in their retirement income. Steelworkers, airline employees, and now those in the auto industry are joining millions of families who must worry about interest rates, stock market fluctuation (波动), and the harsh reality that they may outlive their retirement money. For much of the past year, the American President campaigned to move Social Security to a saving-account model, with retirees trading much or all of their guaranteed payments for payments depending on investment returns. For younger families, the picture is not any better. Both the absolute cost of healthcare and the share of it borne by families have risen and newly fashionable health-savings plans are spreading, with a large investment risk for families’ future healthcare. Even demographics (人口普查) are working against the middle class family, as the chances of having a weak elderly parent—and all the attendant need for physical and financial assistance—have jumped eightfold (八倍) in just one generation.
From the middle-class family perspective, much of this, understandably, looks far less like an opportunity to exercise more financial responsibility, and a good deal more like a frightening shift of financial risk onto their already overburdened shoulders. The financial fallout (余波) has begun, and the political fallout may not be far behind.
1. Today’s double-income families are at greater financial risk in that __________.A.the safety net they used to enjoy has disappeared |
B.their chances of being laid off have greatly increased |
C.they don’t take out unemployment or disability insurance |
D.they are less capable of facing changes in family economics |
A.use up | B.give away |
C.lose control of | D.get rid of |
A.less chance to invest |
B.a higher sense of security |
C.less secured payments |
D.a guaranteed future |
A.financial risks tend to outweigh political risks |
B.the middle class may face greater political challenges |
C.financial problems may bring about political problems |
D.financial responsibility is an indicator of political status |
【推荐3】Step aside, blue collar. And white collar, pink collar and green collar. There’s a new collar in town. “New collar” jobs are those that require advanced skills but not necessarily advanced degrees, especially in emerging high-tech fields like artificial intelligence, cybersecurity (网络安全), electric vehicles and robotics.
There are real fears that workers will lose jobs to technology, especially artificial intelligence, in the coming years. But “new collar” optimists think in a more positive way: There are also real opportunities ahead for skilled workers who know how to handle machines.
“Somebody has to program, monitor and maintain those robots,” said Sarah Boisvert, the founder of the New-Collar Network.
Even if millions of high-tech jobs are created in the coming years, the impact on workers who lose jobs may be significant. For many Americans without four-year college degrees, according to census (人口普查) data, the new job market will require training.
Ginni Rometty, a former chief executive of IBM, is believed to have created a “new collar” in 2016. At the time, she said, IBM was having trouble filling cybersecurity jobs, partly because outdated criteria required that candidates have college degrees.
“Due to our high qualifications in these online jobs, we overlooked a large number of qualified and available candidates,” she wrote in an email. “Unless millions of people are trained in the skills employers need now,” she added, “they risk being unemployed even as millions of good-paying jobs go unfilled.”
Christopher M. Cox, a researcher who has written about the new-collar economy, said, “The alternative model of four-year universities is really great.” However, he added that “new collar” may also be a clever term that relieves the anxiety of workers by defining the constantly changing labor market and technology companies as more ideal rather than “terminators (终结者).”
1. What does “new collar” mean?A.People engaged in cybersecurity. |
B.People working at electric vehicles. |
C.People closely connected with artificial intelligence. |
D.People with advanced skills regardless of degrees. |
A.Much stress. | B.Low salaries. |
C.High qualifications. | D.Few candidates. |
A.It gives more opportunities to the workers. |
B.It helps artificial intelligence develop better. |
C.It rebuilds the confidence of the white collar. |
D.It changes the system of technology companies. |
A.To explain the anxiety of workers. | B.To state the electric vehicle industry. |
C.To emphasise the college education. | D.To introduce the new-collar phenomenon. |