【推荐1】Nowadays it is common that people are buying more products and services than ever before through the Internet, so do Americans. And experts say the popularity of online sales is likely to spread to other countries. Online sales now represent as much as 10% of all retail sales in the United States. This has led traditional stores to seek new ways to keep their customers loyal.
Taking Lynne for example, she made good use of the Internet. she used the Internet to buy everything she needed for her Wedding and holiday gifts for her husband and stepdaughter. Other than food, 90% of her purchases were made on her home computer. “I find that, by being able to go online, choose the things that I need, and have them delivered to me right at my doorstep, I eliminate all the driving, all the crowds, all the noise of that, and I usually get a better selection.”
There are a lot of people like her. Experts say American online shopping hit records in both November and December. 57% of Americans have bought something electronically. Store owners worry that this growing amount of online sales will hurt their business. Cornell University marketing professor Ed Melaughlin says they can keep their customers by selling goods like clothing, which buyers may want to see and try on before purchasing. The stores could also offer things that are difficult to ship. Besides, some stores can please customers by offering to repair electronic products.
Bill Martin is the founder of Shopper Trak. His business helps stores learn about their customers. He said, “There is still a lot of emotion in the buying decision, you know, that takes place. Often you need that last sense of “Boy, this is exactly what I want before you are ready to part with money, and you can't always get that online. It's a rather cold process.”
While e-commerce worries some business owners, the only worry for delivery services is keeping up with the number of packages. UPS manager Dana Kline says her company is very busy at this time of the year.
UPS is so busy that it has filled 55,000 temporary work positions during the holiday season.
1. The purpose of this passage is to tell us ________.

A．the challenge online owners are faced with

B．the difference between online sales and traditional sales

C．the challenge e－commerce causes to traditional sales

D．the trouble that customers often meet when purchasing online

2. The example of Lynne is mentioned in the passage to show________.

A．online sales will replace traditional sales sooner or later

B．online business has changed many Americans' life

C．traditional stores can't offer enough food to their customers

D．traditional stores find new ways to keep their customers loyal

3. The underlined word “eliminate” in Paragraph 2 can be replaced by “________”.

A．include

B．decrease

C．avoid

D．discourage

4. It is implied in Bill Martin's words that ________.

A．store owners should learn more about their customers

B．traditional stores can provide goods to buyers more quickly

C．some owners are using websites to persuade people to visit their stores

D．traditional stores offer a social experience that some people enjoy

【推荐2】Earlier this year, I removed all Internet services from my home, which was very upsetting at first, but I have lived that way.     1    .

I was not content with the time I was wasting—    2    . If there is something I want to research on the Internet, I write it down and use that list when I have Internet access. Now I’m forced to leave the house to get the Internet. I’ll go to the office, the library, the coffee shop, or some other places with free public Wi-Fi, and work on what I need to do online.

Now the Internet is a tool I use to improve my life.     3    , but I go on the Internet with the intention of doing these things. Whenever I’m on the Internet now, I use it in a deliberate way, a way that benefits me and my life, and a way that adds value.

    4    . I could focus on writing without being disturbed. I have more time to read, to write, to think, to exercise and to walk. Because I’ m out of the house and there are people around. I meet new people. Additionally, I have more time for friends and I feel less stressed and my thoughts are clearer. My mind is more focused on important things.     5     Plus, I no longer long for the Internet like I once did.

It will be upsetting at first, but you will live, and your life will be better without it.

A．Here are some of my tips to use the Internet in a more productive way

B．Since I got rid of the Internet at home, I’ve found so many benefits

C．I don’t have a monthly Internet bill

D．I learnt to think independently

E．It ended up being the most productive and wisest decision I’ve ever made

F．I log on to   watch some videos or laugh at funny pictures

G．I felt I could do more purposeful things than spend it on the Internet

【推荐3】In agrarian(农业的), pre-industrial Europe, “you’d want to wake up early, start working with the sunrise, have a break to have the largest meal, and then you’d go back to work,” says Ken Albala, a professor of history at the University of the Pacific. “Later, at 5 or 6, you’d have a smaller supper.”

This comfortable cycle, in which the rhythms of the day helped shape the rhythms of the meals, gave rise to the custom of the large midday meal, eaten with the extended family. “Meals are the foundation of the family,” says Carole Couniban, a professor at Millersville University in Pennsylvania, “so there was a very important interconnection between eating together and strengthening family ties.”

Since industrialization, maintaining such a slow cultural metabolism has been much harder, with the long midday meal shrinking to whatever could be stuffed into a lunch bucket or bought at a food stand. Certainly, there were benefits. Modern techniques for producing and shipping food led to greater variety and quantity, including a tremendous increase in the amount of animal protein and dairy products available, making us more energetic than our ancestors.

Yet plenty has been lost too, even in cultures that still live to eat. Take Italy. It’s no secret that the Mediterranean diet is healthy, but it was also a joy to prepare and eat. Italians, says Counihan, traditionally began the day with a small meal. The big meal came at around 1 p.m. In between the midday meal and a late, smaller dinner came a small snack. Today, when time zones have less and less meaning, there is little tolerance for offices’ closing for lunch, and worsening traffic in cities means workers can’t make it home and back fast enough anyway. So the formerly small supper after sundown becomes the big meal of the day, the only one at which the family has a chance to get together. “The evening meal carries the full burden that used to be spread over two meals,” says Counihan.

1. What does Professor Carole Counihan say about pre-industrial European families eating meals together？

A．It was helpful to maintaining a nation’s tradition.

B．It brought family members closer to each other.

C．It was characteristic of the agrarian culture.

D．It enabled families to save a lot of money.

2. What does “cultural metabolism”（Line 1, Para. 3) refer to？

A．Evolutionary adaptation.	B．Changes in lifestyle.
C．Social progress.	D．Pace of life.

3. What does the author think of the food people eat today?

A．Its quality is usually guaranteed.

B．It is varied, abundant and nutritious.

C．It is more costly than what our ancestors ate.

D．Its production depends too much on technology.

4. What does the author say about Italians of the old days?

A．They enjoyed cooking as well as eating.

B．They ate a big dinner late in the evening.

C．They ate three meals regularly every day.

D．They were expert at cooking meals.