1 . With chip (芯片)readers, auto-reload apps, and one-dick online purchasing, it’s only too easy to buy something without fully registering how much it costs. That said, even if you’re not counting out small change for the cashier these days, you’ve probably still noticed how often prices end in .99.
Maybe you assumed it had something to do with tax laws, or else it was a leftover practice from decades ago, when things cost less and pennies mattered more. In fact, it’s actually a clever psychological tool that tricks your brain into thinking the price of an item is lower. “Because we read from left to right, we pay less attention to the end of the number versus (与……相比) the beginning,” DealNews.com consumer analyst Julie Ramhold told Reader’s Digest. So, for example, your mind will interpret $9.99 as $9. though it’s obviously much closer to $10.
Just one dollar’s difference might not seem like enough to a fleet your decision on whether to buy something, but it can push an item into a lower price range—and that’s enough to make your mind think it costs significantly less. To your subconscious brain, a one-digit (一位数的)price like $9 seems a lot cheaper than a two-digit price like $10.
Though ending prices in 9 might be the norm, there is a fair amount of variation when it comes to retailers’ pricing tactics (定价策略). Live Science reports that because we often see a price ending in 9 as a cheap deal, some stores—like J. Crew and Ralph Lauren—save the nines for their sale items, and use numbers ending in 0 for their full-priced items, giving the impression that those items are high-quality. Thrift stores (二手商店),on the other hand, often use whole numbers for all their products.
1. What does the underlined word “it” refer to?| A．an auto-reload app | B．a chip |
| C．one-click | D．something |
| A．Ending in .99 is a mentally low price. |
| B．Ending in .99 is a reasonable price. |
| C．Ending in .99 is a fit to tax laws. |
| D．Ending in .99 is a one-digit lower price. |
| A．To show the items are cheap enough. |
| B．To show the items are in high-quality. |
| C．To show the items are fit for the norm. |
| D．To show the items are different enough. |
| A．Buy What You Want at the Right Prices |
| B．Why Are So Many Prices Lower? |
| C．The Reason So Many Prices End in .99 |
| D．Saving the Nines for Your Purchasing Items |
Young Inspirations was founded two years ago to provide mentoring sessions for students and unemployed young adults aged 11 to 21.
Alex Goldberg, the program’s founder, said： “We set up Young Inspirations because we wanted to give young people experiences which will potentially be life changing and broaden their outlook.” “We try to create work experience opportunities that will really make a difference to our youth. For example, we’ve secured internships (实习）with world-famous firms such as Honda.”
“At a time of funding cutbacks, schools are finding it more and more difficult to offer this kind of mentoring because of that. It is extremely important that these opportunities are available both to help youth with their school work and grades and to give them opportunities which may help shape their futures." Kieran Hepbum, 14, is one of a group of Banbury youth who has benefited from the program so far. In October the Banbury School pupil was accompanied by Young Inspirations staff to Paris where he was an observer at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) International Youth Forum(论坛).
The event was held for young people from around the world, to seek their views on how the future of youth and education should look. Kieran joined several hundred observers mostly in their
20s and was the only UK school pupil to attend the event. Kieran thinks the trip was a life changing experience. Before we left 1 didn’t quite know what to make of it but when we got there we didn 't stop、it was amazing” he said, “We went to three or four hours of debates each day and then did something cultural each afternoon.”
The main theme of the forum was how youth can drive change in political and public life. It dealt with issues(问题）such as drug abuse, violence and unemployment.
Kieran said： It has really helped me to improve my confidence and social skills as well as my school grades and I was voted most improved pupil at school in August.”
The Young Inspirations mentoring sessions take place each Friday in Banbury.For details visit www. younginsviratiom. com.
1. Why is The Young Inspirations mentoring program set up?| A．To provide youth with unique experiences |
| B．To train staff for world-famous firms |
| C．To equip the unemployed with different skills |
| D．To offer job opportunities to young adults |
| A．the shortage of money |
| B．the lack of support from firms |
| C．the effect of unemployment |
| D．the lack of opportunities |
| A．the visit to the United Kingdom was amazing |
| B．the mentoring sessions are held every day except Friday |
| C．the youth have found a way to solve their problems |
| D．Kieran has made great progress in many aspects |
| A．Alex Goldberg, Founder of Young Inspirations |
| B．Kieran, Banbury School Pupil to Paris |
| C．Young People Find a World of Opportunity |
| D．Debates Help Youth with Their Grades. |
3 . One of the greatest sources of unhappiness, in my experience, is the difficulty we have in accepting things as they are.
When we see something we don’t like, we wish it could be different. We cry out for something better. That may be human nature, or perhaps it’s something ingrained(根深蒂固的) in our culture. The root of the unhappiness isn’t necessarily that we want things to be different. However, it’s that we decided we didn’t like it in the first place. We’ve judged it as bad, rather than saying, “It’s not bad or good, and it just is it.”
In one of my books, I said “You should expect people to mess up and expect things to go differently than you planned”. Some readers said it’s too sorrowful to expect things to go wrong. However, it’s only negative if you see it as negative and judge it as bad. Instead, you could accept it as the way the world works and try to understand why that is.
This can be applied to whatever you do: how other people act at work, how politics works and how depressing the news media can be. Accept these things as they are, and try to understand why they’re that way. It will save you a lot of sadness, because you’ll no longer say, “Oh. I wish bad things didn’t happen!”
Does it mean you can never change things? Not at all. But change things not because you can’t accept things as they are, but because you enjoy the process of changing, learning and growing.
Can we make this world a better place? You can say that you’ll continue to try to do things to help others, to grow as a person, to make a difference in this world. That’s the correct path you choose to take, because you enjoy that path. Therefore, when you find yourself judging and wishing for difference, try a different approach: accept, and understand. It might lead to some interesting results.
1. The author believes that we feel unhappy maybe because ________.| A．it is our natural emotion in the life |
| B．culture asks us to be different from others |
| C．everyone has their own opinions on things |
| D．we dislike something in the beginning |
| A．Acting well at work and in politics. |
| B．Feeling depressed for the news media. |
| C．Accepting and understanding what has happened. |
| D．Saying something negative when bad things come. |
| A．Help others and make a difference. |
| B．Enjoy what you have to do in the work. |
| C．Judge yourself and make a wish for you. |
| D．Try a new way when making the world better. |
| A．Accepting can make our life happier and better. |
| B．Expecting things to be different gives us hope. |
| C．Traditional culture becomes root of unhappiness. |
| D．Judging good or bad is important for our world. |
