1 . Imagine this: You walk into a place and the atmosphere is light and airy. The subtle scent of coffee beans fills the air and everyone that approaches you is friendly and welcoming. You’re comfortable and feel like you belong. As in most cities, it’s a place where people meet, discuss ideas, and conduct business. After taking a few sips of that Caramel Macchiato, you immediately get that feeling of energy and optimism. Perhaps it’s partly due to the caffeine and sugar rush, or maybe it’s that the presence of a Starbucks typically indicates a city on the rise.
In December of 2017, Trenton’s first Starbuck’s café was opened to the public at 102 Warren Street. Walking in, people living in Trenton scream at everything about this café, from the diverse but local stuff to the Trenton themed décor (室内装饰) and art. To make things better, this Starbucks also serves as an “opportunity café” which essentially means the young people in our communities are recruited and offered job training and employment. This program not only uplifts our youth, but also increases the amount of minority business in the city.
In the interviews with customers, a trend in responses arose. To many, the Starbucks was a “favorite place to stop in after work” and provided “a very relaxing environment.” The staff were often highly praised, noted as being friendly, helpful, and working in harmony. The interior décor of the café struck a lot of people’s attention, given the familiarity of the atmosphere. Painted on the walls, all around the store, are murals (壁画) with bright, colorful, graffiti-like designs very sui generis in Trenton, showcasing local monuments like the State House and the famous “Trenton Makes” bridge.
This new Starbucks brings a sense of modernity to Downtown Trenton and reminds us that our city is always developing. Open from 6 a. m. until 7 p.m. every day, the building is hardly ever empty. This space is made for everyone in Trenton, even the non-coffee lovers.
1. What is the major function of Paragraph 1 in the passage?| A．To present an introduction to the topic. |
| B．To set a background for the main theme. |
| C．To summarize the main idea of the passage. |
| D．To describe a common phenomenon for the readers. |
| A．People are amazed at the number of job opportunities provided by the Starbucks. |
| B．“Opportunity café” program helps achieve booming economy and bring spiritual benefits. |
| C．Most respondents regarded the Starbucks as a harmonious and entertaining workplace. |
| D．Numerous people are attracted to stop in after work by the murals with original designs. |
| A．Substantial. | B．Delicate. | C．Inspirational. | D．Unique. |
| A．Starbucks Is Designed for Everyone |
| B．Starbucks Gains Popularity in Trenton |
| C．Starbucks Sets an Atmosphere of Progress |
| D．Starbucks Creates More Job Opportunities |
The shelves in most supermarkets are full of family-size this and multi-buy that. However, if you’re shopping for one, buying extra
Of course, shops are not charities — they price goods in the way
Many supermarkets are no longer doing “buy one get one free” promotions because of the
If your supermarket sells loose produce, then buying smaller quantities is easier. Over the last two years, some supermarkets
Who knows, perhaps some of the more forward-looking
China’s top liquor (酒) maker Kweichow Moutai (贵州茅台) and domestic coffee chain Luckin Coffee have got
People have been sharing their reactions after
“By working with Luckin Coffee, which passes Starbucks as the
4 . Getting to know your money personality can help you rein in your spending habits and take back control of your personal finances. Here, finance saving money expert Pete Ridley at CarFinanceSaver reveals the UKs core money personalities, along with actions to adopt that reduce the negative consequences of each personality type.
The Spontaneous Spender
A spontaneous spender refers to a person that exhibits a “spend now, think later” attitude. They can find it tricky to differentiate between “need to haves” and “nice to haves”, and often feel “spender’s guilt”.
“Before you make a purchase, take time to decide whether the item is a ‘need to have’ or a ‘nice to have’. This will aid in avoiding splurges (挥霍) that provide short term satisfaction and post-spenders’ guilt.” says Ridley.
The Determined Saver
An underlying sense of worry and fear can be at the root of a persistent saver, and their determination to save disguises an overwhelming fear of money.
“Saving is great,” says Ridley, “but it’s important to regard money as a friend and not an enemy. Always be sure to make non-essential purchases. These items don’t have to be a major expense, but just enough that you acknowledge that money can be there to be enjoyed and not just put away.”
The Money=Status
This personality type can live beyond their means by making purchases that they don’t need, striving to keep up with others and saying yes to friendship plans that they cannot afford, to keep up the appearance of financial wellbeing.
“It’s here that you can adopt the 50/20/30 rule: 50 percent essential living expenses, 30 percent disposable income and 20 percent saving and paying debts,” suggests Ridley.
This will maintain financial wellbeing while helping to acknowledge that money doesn’t necessarily equal status or even impress those around you.
1. Which type of money personality is not mentioned in the text?| A．Cathy struggles to check her bank balance. |
| B．Eden tends to spend on impulse with little pre-planning. |
| C．Gill demonstrates a determined saver approach to her finances. |
| D．Joyce buys an unaffordable luxury to boast about her financial wellbeing. |
| A．Manage your money wisely. | B．Spend some money on non-essentials for joy. |
| C．Check your finances regularly. | D．Take time to assess how much you love the items. |
| A．Health. | B．Business. | C．Finance. | D．Culture. |
5 . The music industry is highly competitive. It requires you to improve your musical skills continuously for a higher level of artistry.
Music marketing strategies involve one or more marketing techniques. Examples include giving free promotional (促销的) singles, putting advertisements on different media, and getting email addresses at concerts so audience members can get updates about the artist.
In many cases, music marketing strategies are limited by the artist’s funds. Many beginning artists don’t have the money to promote their work heavily and have to rely on techniques that are free or low-cost.
| A．The artist already has a product ready to go |
| B．Music marketing strategies differ from regular ones |
| C．Musical talent alone, however, is not necessarily enough |
| D．No two musicians have to use the same techniques when marketing |
| E．An artist doesn’t need to promote all of his/her songs at the same time |
| F．That’s why most beginning artists dream of being “discovered” by an agency |
| G．Technology makes it cheaper and easier for artists to promote their work themselves |
6 . From chocolate toothpaste in the Philippines to salt and vinegar potato chips in the UK, products popular in one place often receive a cool reception elsewhere. It of course poses a challenge to food companies seeking to export their brands.
The snack-food company Frito-Lay addresses the issue by discovering the best-loved flavours in each of their markets. So while cheese, spicy chilli and barbecue are popular flavours in the USA, Turkey goes for yogurt. The French prefer olive and Japan likes sushi flavours. But all of them are sold under the globally familiar Doritos brand. Frito-Lay’s understanding of local tastes around the world-and the successful adaptation of their product-has made Doritos one of the world’s most popular snack foods.
Everyone everywhere loves ice cream, it seems. The Anglo-Dutch food giant Unilever sells it in over 40 countries. The company used to sell their ice cream under a lot of different brands, which created the sense that the companies were local. In 1998, the company launched the ‘Heartbrand’ logo (标志) to increase international brand awareness, but kept the familiar local names for the ice cream products. This helped avoid the problem of some names not sounding good in other languages. So in Bulgaria and Greece, you buy Algida, but in China, Malaysia, Singapore and the UK, it’s Wall’s.
There are some products that will always remain at home, such as the durian (榴莲), known as the ‘the king of fruits’ in its homeland of Southeast Asia. The fruit’s most notable feature is its strong smell, described by some as that of rotten onions and by others as old gym socks, though it is said to taste delicious by its fans. Though some durians are grown outside of Southeast Asia, the only place the fruit enjoys any wide popularity at all is in Southeast Asia and even there, some people can’t stand it! So don’t expect to see durians in your local supermarket any time soon.
1. What does the underlined word “It” in paragraph I refer to?| A．The snack culture. |
| B．The cold welcome. |
| C．The food preference. |
| D．The global popularity. |
| A．They provide chips of high quality. |
| B．They make snacks to suit local tastes. |
| C．They unite markets of different countries. |
| D．They use advertising to build new brands. |
| A．Anglo-Dutch. | B．Algida. | C．Heartbrand. | D．Wall’s. |
| A．Durians’ sales dilemma. |
| B．Durians’ nutritional value. |
| C．Durians’ smell problems. |
| D．Durians’ attractive features. |
7 . Imagine a world without money. With no way to buy stuff, you might need to produce everything you need unless you could figure out how to exchange some of the things you made for other items.
Economists like me believe that using money makes it much easier for everyone to specialize, focusing their work on a specific activity. As economists have known since David Ricardo’s work in the 19th century, there are gains for everyone from exchanging goods and services-even when you end up paying someone who is less skilled than you.
People have traded goods and services with one kind of money or another, whether it was trinkets, shells, seeds or cash for tens of thousands of years. People have always obtained things without money too, usually through barter. It involves exchanging something, such as a cookie, for something else-like a pencil.
Bartering sounds convenient, but it’s hard to pull off. Let’s say you’re a carpenter who makes chairs and you want an apple. You would probably find it impossible to buy one. Just imagine what a trouble it would be to drag the chairs you’ve made to the shopping mall in the hopes of cutting great deals through barter with the sellers.
Paper money is far easier to carry. You might be able to sell a chair for $50. You could take that $50 bill to a supermarket, buy two pounds of apples for $5 and keep the $45 in change.
Nowadays, of course, many people pay for things without cash or coins. Instead, they use credit cards or make online purchases. Others simply wave a smartwatch at a designated device. Others use bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies. But all of these are just different forms of money that don’t require paper.
No matter what form it takes, money ultimately helps make the trading of goods and services go more smoothly for everyone involved.
1. What does the underlined phrase “pull off” in Paragraph 4 probably mean?| A．Change. | B．Achieve. | C．Cease. | D．Intervene. |
| A．Money hasn’t been used until thousands of years ago. |
| B．People have to make all their necessities if there’s no money. |
| C．Money comes in more forms in modern times than in ancient times. |
| D．People benefit from exchanging goods and services even with someone less skilled. |
| A．Paper money will ultimately disappear in the future. |
| B．Barter is the only way to get things if there’s no money. |
| C．Money makes the society more productive and convenient. |
| D．Exchanging something for something else is popular nowadays. |
| A．A news report. |
| B．A financial magazine |
| C．A science fiction. |
| D．A research paper. |
8 . Overnight, eating fried chicken in the People’s Square is OUT; instead, people started to drink HEEKCAA and eat Bao Master. This year, the queues in front of the doors of “Wanghong delicacies” were so dense that a cup of tea has been hyped to over 80 Yuan by scalpers (黄牛) and local bloggers even customized a one-day tour to eat in Shanghai.
To a great extent, Wanghong phenomenon depends on merchants’ business strategy.
10-20 Yuan is the exchange value of milk tea, but it’s the symbol value of the goods that encourages people to “pull the grass”. Just like the lipstick, mailbox and graffiti wall that have been on the list of Wanghong, people want to use relatively controllable spending to gain satisfaction from a moments’ thumb up.
With the development of society, consumers are not just buying a product but its brand culture and quality of life, so the appearance of light consuming is inevitable. However, “Wanghong economy” is always short-lived because this consumer group is changeable in affection. Consumers who come by “physical attractiveness” will quickly vanish if there is no implicit value or connotation to support.
| A．Still, these cuisines hold strong appeal to young consumers as long as they are of high quality and good tastes. |
| B．After they buy the product and send a picture to the moments, perhaps their “existential anxiety” will be cured. |
| C．Merchants have to figure out the true value and selling point of their products. |
| D．It is just because people are too idle and “Wanghong delicacies” are too attractive. |
| E．Wanghong phenomenon also rests with customers’ mindset and behaviour. |
| F．It is obvious that queuing is a kind of hunger marketing strategy. |
| G．These behaviors are, in the eyes of sociologists, anxious for existence. |
Yuan Tian, who wears a traditional Lao dress is preparing tea in the food and agricultural products section of the fifth China International Import Expo. As head of the exhibit booth and general manager of the company, Yuan knows too well
Eight years ago, several Chinese businessmen traveling the Bolaven Plateau of Laos found
With the launch of the China-Laos Railway, transportation costs have dropped significantly for the tea company,
This year, China’s express delivery
After years of exponential development, the digital economy
