1 . Cafeterias have been filled with challenges — right from planning, purchasing, and preparing, to reducing waste, staying on budget, managing goods, and training staff. Through the tedious process, restaurateurs lacked a unified platform for efficient management. To bring consistency to the unorganised catering (餐饮) industry, childhood friends Arjun Subramanian and Raj Jain, who shared a passion for innovation, decided to partner in 2019 to explore opportunities in the cafeteria industry.
In May 2020, they co-founded Platos, a one-stop solution for restaurants with a custom technology kit to streamline all aspects of cafeteria management. The company offers end-to-end cafeteria management, staff selection and food trials to ensure smooth operations and consistent service. “We believe startups solve real problems and Platos is our shot at making daily workplace food enjoyable again. We aim to simplify the dining experience, providing a convenient and efficient solution that benefits both restaurateurs and customers and creating a connected ecosystem,” says Subramanian, CEO and co-founder.
Platos guarantees that a technology-driven cafeteria allows customers to order, pay, pick up, and provide ratings and feedback. It also offers goods and menu management to effectively perform daily operations. Additionally, its applications connect all shareholders for a smart cafeteria experience. “We help businesses that are into catering on condition that they have access to an industrial kitchen setup where they’re making food according to certain standards,” Jain states.
Since the beginning, Platos claims to have transformed 45 cafeterias across eight cities in the country. Currently, it has over 45,000 monthly users placing more than 200,000 orders. Despite facing challenges in launching cafeterias across major cities in the initial stages, Platos has experienced a 15% increase in its month-over-month profits.
As for future plans, the startup is looking to raise $1 million from investors as strategic partners, bringing in capital, expertise, and networks. “Finding the right lead investor is the compass that points your startup toward success,” Subramanian says.
1. What does the underlined word “tedious” in Paragraph 1 mean?| A．Time-consuming. | B．Breath-taking. |
| C．Heart-breaking. | D．Energy-saving. |
| A．To connect customers with a greener ecosystem. |
| B．To ensure food security and variety in cafeterias. |
| C．To improve cafeteria management with technology. |
| D．To make staff selection more efficient and enjoyable. |
| A．Platos has achieved its ultimate financial goal. |
| B．Platos has gained impressive marketing progress. |
| C．Challenges in food industry can be easily overcome. |
| D．Tech-driven cafeterias have covered most urban areas. |
| A．To reduce costs. | B．To increase profits. |
| C．To seek investment. | D．To innovate technology. |
2 . On a soulless roundabout at a motorway crossroads, next door to a Burger King and opposite McDonald’s, stands a newcomer to the world of fast-food in France: a boulangerie, or French bakery. With sufficient parking, the Boulangerie offers its car-borne customers a variety of choices. The boulangerie is traditionally a feature of the village square or high street. Yet now, it is taking off as an out-of-town drive-in or drive-to experience.
It is an unexpected time for the baguette (法式面包) to spread, let alone on the country’s city edges. Rising energy and flour prices have pushed the price of the humble stick over the symbolic one euro in some places. Older folks still recall the time in the 1970s when it went for one French franc. Yet in 2022 more new boulangeries opened their doors in France than closed, according to Altares, a research group. Across the country 2,538 new bakeries set up shop last year. In the Paris region, the fastest growth has taken place not in the capital’s built-up walkable centre, but its low-density (低密度) outer suburbs — meeting the need of the motorist.
Marie Blachere, a chain of boulangeries which started their business on car-accessible edge-of-town sites, now has over 700 outlets across France; 70 opened last year alone. It provides industrial-scale kitchens for hand-made baguettes, made from dough prepared, kneaded and baked on the site, a condition in France for use of the label boulangerie. With turnover of over €550m, it ranks as one of the top ten fast-food chains in France. In the city of Chartres, Cyril Avert boulangerie serves baguettes to motorists at the wheel, as a pure drive-through service. So does Jules & John, in over 20 towns in France.
The drive-in or drive-to fashion is not welcome news for the boulangeries on narrow town-centre streets, many of which are struggling with rising costs. But it does reflect a stubborn fact about France, which those who govern from its city centres ignore. In 2021, 82% of French households owned at least one vehicle, and many in outer suburbs and semi-rural parts depend on it for work. The French remain as attached to their daily, or even twice-daily, baguette as they do to their use of the car.
1. Who are the recently-opened baguette bakeries targeted for?| A．New arrivals. | B．Hurrying drivers. |
| C．Leisurely tourists. | D．Fashionable youths. |
| A．Brands of boulangeries. | B．Profits from boulangeries. |
| C．Examples of boulangerie expansion. | D．Conditions for opening a new boulangerie. |
| A．Objective. | B．Approving. | C．Dismissive. | D．Doubtful. |
| A．Baguette and vehicle: hand in hand |
| B．Boulangeries: suffering rocketing price |
| C．Boulangeries: springing up in unlikely places |
| D．Baguettes: the symbol of traditional French cuisine |
3 . Have you noticed how the price of online purchases can increase at checkout? This is due to a strategy called “drip pricing,” coined by American economist Richard Thaler in 1971. Drip pricing is a strategy where businesses gradually add extra charges to a customer’s bill, making the initially advertised price rise.
This strategy takes advantage of customers’ tendency to commit to a purchase when they see a low original price. As extra fees are added, customers often continue with the purchase despite the increased cost due to their emotional investment. Businesses, from e-commerce stores to airlines, use this technique to significantly boost their profits. The initial price of a product or service can sharply increase with the addition of various costs. For example, a flight ticket can considerably increase due to the inclusion of extra costs such as baggage fees, seating options, and access to express lanes.
However, current laws seem inadequate in the face of these practices, resulting in calls for new regulations and clearer retailer responsibilities. Dr. Jane Doe from the Consumer Behavior Research Group at the University of Cambridge found that customers’ knowledge plays an effective role. “Our study shows that when customers are informed about drip pricing techniques, they are less likely to fall for them, ultimately leading to more cost-effective purchases,” Dr. Doe said.
The success of drip pricing depends on customers not knowing or accepting these extra costs. An interesting suggestion to fight these practices could be the start of an annual event to highlight and criticize the worst examples of drip pricing. Possible award categories might include The Biggest Drip, Most Uselessly Named Charge, and the Droplet Award for multiple extra pricing add-ons. Such an event could strengthen customers and promote openness in pricing, thereby challenging the success of drip pricing.
As we progress into the era of digital commerce, the need for transparency and fairness in pricing is becoming increasingly important. Consumer advocates argue that the key to fighting drip pricing lies not only in stricter laws and regulations from the government but also in equipping consumers with the necessary knowledge and tools.
1. What does the term “drip pricing” refer to?| A．An outdated approach applied in e-commerce pricing. |
| B．An in-depth study on the continual rise of business prices. |
| C．A pricing strategy involving added costs to the initial price. |
| D．A cost reduction technique commonly employed in airlines. |
| A．Fear of losing previous orders. | B．Restrictions from acts and laws |
| C．Emotional commitment to the product. | D．Unawareness of the additional charges. |
| A．By enforcing clear new laws | B．By providing consumer education. |
| C．By promoting cost-effective shopping. | D．By organizing challenging annual events |
| A．Annual events will award successful drip pricing. |
| B．Ignoring drip pricing is an effective way to resist it. |
| C．Consumer advocates need support from the media. |
| D．Consumers and authorities should make joint efforts. |
4 . More treasured than the gold in its vaults (金库) are the data a bank has stored on its servers. Banks enjoy a monopoly over data that has helped them get away with awful service and fend off newcomers with better ideas. In Europe, at least, that is all about to change.
The source of this disruption is a new set of regulations, named the Second Payment Service Directive, or “PSD2”. The rules, which are being finalised and will be in force from January next year, will force banks to share data easily with licensed third parties. Bankers in Europe scream that their profits and customer relationships are under threat. Fearing they could be next，America’s bankers are already trying to persuade their regulators to keep their data monopoly well-preserved. Such reactions are predictable and wrong.
Some concerns about PSD2 make sense. In particular, it is reasonable to wonder about the privacy and security implications of sensitive financial data being shared with third parties. But banks themselves are hardly immune to cyber attack. And the way that European regulators propose to deal with these worries looks promising. Third parties that want to use bank data will need to convince national regulators that their data defences are solid and must submit to annual inspections. New entrants to cyber must also takeout deception insurance; their insurers will have a clear reason to demand state of their cyber security. Many online payments will become more secure than they are today, because of the officially instructed requirements for the use of a vigorous authentication process involving two-step confirmation.
The gap between writing rules and implementing them is always large. So the following might make sense. First, agreement from customers to provide access to their bank data must be gained explicitly, not buried in pages of wordy professional terms. The purposes for which data might be used should be clearly explained; and individuals’ agreement to share their personal information should be easily reversible. Second, regulators must be decisive and cruel both in ensuring that banks open up their database to others and in withdrawing the licences of third parties that break the rules, particularly on cyber security.
Since the new entrants will not be licensed to engage in riskier forms of finance—such as lending money—it makes sense to regulate them with a lighter touch. But if some financial technology providers do end up becoming systemically important, higher standards of oversight might be necessary.
1. According to the author, what is the change about to happen to Europe?| A．Data stored in servers will fail to offer service. |
| B．Banks will better treasure their stored gold than data. |
| C．Banks will lose control of data stored on their servers. |
| D．Banks will have to share what they exclusively control. |
| A．They feel alarmed at it. | B．They feel confused at it. |
| C．They accept it as rational. | D．They take it as ridiculous. |
| A．They are predictable and wrong. | B．They are reasonable but intolerable. |
| C．They are unnecessary and insensible. | D．They are understandable but unnecessary. |
| A．Customers must be granted the right to privacy. |
| B．Regulators should be rough in conducting regulations. |
| C．Higher running supervision might be adopted if necessary. |
| D．New entrants to cyber must takeout deception insurance. |
With travel and the environment in the news so much lately, you’ve probably heard the word ecotourism. As travelers become more aware of their effect on the planet and want to do their part to make a difference, ecotourism has really taken off.
What is ecotourism? The definition isn’t as hard to determine as you might think. According to the International Ecotourism Society, it is defined as “responsible travel to natural areas that protects the environment and sustains the well-being of the local people”. To be simple, it’s travel that has a positive effect on a destination’s ecology and economy.
Ecotourism lets travelers participate in activities that benefit the environment. For example, travelers can act as citizen scientists in places around the world, including national parks and dive sites, to help do research and collect data. Meanwhile, ecotourism helps local communities to do well and become successful and strong. That can happen in a number of ways, involving some type of financial aspect, from providing jobs to supporting local businesses.
Being a responsible traveler, you’ll have a much more satisfying and rewarding experience. Instead of simply visiting tourist attractions and eating at chain restaurants, you can get completely involved in a local culture and really get to know the people who live there. It enriches your own life and opens your mind to new ideas.
Ecotourism is an amazing way to discover the world. Nature is full of wonders everywhere. Being able to get out in a natural area that is protected and largely undeveloped offers a chance to connect with plants and animals you may never see anywhere else. Just be sure to leave it as you found it for future explorers to discover. Get your sneakers ready, pack your bags and head for nature. A big and beautiful world is waiting for you out there.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Demand on tourism burst as the Minsu market’s recovery sped up during the May Day holiday. Oceans of tourists flooded into Zibo in China’s Shandong Province for its BBQ,
The Minsu in rural areas still gain
Among customers booking the Minsu in rural areas, the “post-80” and “post-90” generations are still the mainstream. The
7 . In the worsening economic environment, restaurants a returning to sharing menus to stop hard up customers from cutting back on starters and desserts.
Expenses in restaurants have fallen by 14 percent, from £ 25.38 to £ 21.80 per head, in part because customers are having main courses only and skipping starters and desserts, the research firm Lumina Intelligence has found. This is also hitting receipts from drinks, with the number of meals including alcohol falling from 38.5 percent to 33.9 percent. “To increase profit, restaurants are introducing sharing dishes across courses, including starter and dessert dishes, to encourage customers to spend more,” according to Lumina Intelligence.
Linden Stores, a restaurant that is owned by Laura Christie and her husband and was relocated to the village of Audlem from London in 2020, started a whole new menu of modern British food, with two people sharing seven dishes recently. And, for Christie, it was really a bolt out of the blue. “I wasn’t expecting it to be such a hit,” said Christie. “It was quite a new idea for people. We’re in a small village but it turned out we were breaking more boundaries than we’d thought with this sharing concept.”
Linden Stores is not alone in rethinking its menu to make sharing food more commonplace. A large number of restaurants are following this, among which is El Pastor, a group of Mexican restaurants in London. Actually, stealing your partner’s dessert is a time-honoured restaurant tradition, but restaurant owners are increasingly offering two spoons as a matter of course as sharing food become the latest way for the hospitality industry to fight the recession (经济萧条).
Sharing works because restaurants have become less formal, Christie believes. “It makes people feel like they’re getting more of an experience. Sharing food offers a delicious and exciting way to put together history, culture, and love. It helps save diners’ spend per head. It also helps with the efficiency of restaurants, because you know what you’re having to prepare and you need fewer people to deliver it because you know, ahead of time, what you’re doing.”
1. What does the author intend to do in paragraph 2?| A．Add some background information. | B．Describe people’s new food preference. |
| C．Introduce a new topic for discussion. | D．State restaurants’ effort to make a profit. |
| A．Christie had a clear vision of what she really wanted to do. |
| B．Christie was shocked by the reaction to sharing menus. |
| C．Christie was in a totally disturbed state of mind. |
| D．Christie found it hard to encourage innovation. |
| A．To explain the tradition of sharing food. | B．To prove the success of Linden Stores’ reform. |
| C．To present attempts at fighting the recession. | D．To show sharing menus’ popularity with restaurants. |
| A．Food is a vital element of culture. | B．Advance preparation makes a big difference. |
| C．Sharing menus is a win-win thing. | D．Food sharing helps people bond together closely. |
8 . Research in the US, for the resale site ThredUp, suggests that 70% of women were prepared to buy second-hand fashion in 2019 compared with 45% four years earlier. It predicts that the resale market will be bigger than fast fashion featuring copying high-fashion designs by 2029 as traditional charity shops sell more items and the resale market expands.
Vinted, another resale site, which now has more than 37 million registered members globally across 13 countries, including 1.2 million in the UK, said it saw an increase of between 16% and 17% in listings in its European markets during COVID-19. The company says during COVID-19 shoppers turned to the Internet to clean out unwanted items they could not sell at charity shops.
And there is an impetus that pushes big retailers (零售商) into the second-hand market. According to a report, the fashion industry is responsible for 10% of yearly global carbon emissions (碳排放) — more than all international flights and shipping combined. Companies including Asda have all signed up to an action plan, including enabling clothing re-use and reducing waste.
Individuals who are without jobs or working shorter hours are increasingly selling unwanted goods online, also driving second-hand sales. There’s recognition that useless objects can have a cash value that can be easily realized.
Tracy Diane Cassidy, a fashion expert, says that an appreciation of excellent design and a desire to create a more individual look beyond mass-produced fast fashion are also driving the trend (趋势).
Brands are starting to take notice that there is a sales opportunity here. Their sales will drop when people start to buy second-hand goods. If they don’t join in, where else are they going to make up for the lost income?
1. What does the research find according to Paragraph 1?| A．Fast fashion is bound to suffer great losses. |
| B．People are more willing to buy used items. |
| C．The resale market attracts young women more. |
| D．70% of second-hand fashion buyers are women. |
| A．A real trouble. | B．A weak point. |
| C．A driving force. | D．An economic benefit. |
| A．Fashion taste. | B．A big profit. |
| C．The habit of saving. | D．Environmental protection. |
| A．The future of fashion brands. |
| B．The advantages of clothing re-use. |
| C．The popularization of the resale market. |
| D．The reasons for buying second-hand items. |
9 . With funding from Royal London’s Changemakers Programme, NEMI Teas is a social enterprise(企业)helping to train refugees (难民) for future employment. NEMI Teas is a specialist company offering fair trade, organic tea blends, such as loose tea and plastic-free, compostable pyramid teabags. It also provides employment, local work experience and job skills for refugees.
It’s based in London but a recent grant of £20,000 from Royal London’s Changemakers Programme means that it’s looking to expanding the programme nationally.
Pranav Chopra, founder of NEMI Teas, says, “A’ huge driving force that drove me to set up NEMI Teas to tackle inequality amongst refugee communities in the UK is really well captured in this quote by Pierre Omidyar:’ Everyone is born equally capable but lacks equal opportunity. ‘ I’m excited to join the Changemakers Programme as it will provide us with much-needed support and guidance as we look to copy our Changing Journeys programme to empower refugees living across the UK.”
Royal London’s Changemakers Programme supports social enterprises that focus on promoting financial recovery and helping people move fairly to a sustainable world. Now in its second year,the programme has announced ten new social enterprises, including NEMI Teas.
Sarah Pennells, Consumer Finance Specialist at Royal London, said about this year’s Changemakers, “We believe that these inspiring social enterprises can provide real solutions to these issues, with innovation at their heart, which is why they’ve been chosen as our Changemakers this year. We are delighted to support people who are looking at new ways to ensure that a just transition-moving fairly to a sustainable world-is a possibility for everyone.”
1. What does NEMI Teas do?| A．It provides professional tea service. |
| B．It trains specialists for tea making. |
| C．It funds Changemakers Programme. |
| D．It offers tea lovers employment. |
| A．By looking for more cooperators. |
| B．By expanding their business locally. |
| C．By helping people with a sustainable life. |
| D．By rolling out their programme nationwide. |
| A．To prove the importance of equality. |
| B．To tell about the history of his company. |
| C．To show his idea behind creating NEMI Teas. |
| D．To ask more people to join his programme. |
| A．Controversial. |
| B．Trustworthy. |
| C．Skeptical. |
| D．Adventurous. |
10 . Ever wondered why your hotel pool seems overly small compared to its website picture? A new graph reveals just how far companies will go to make their products seem more appealing, from replacing actual ice cream with mashed potato for a more solid appearance, to using motor oil for honey. One of the most common examples is that of advertised images of hamburgers, which show items between the bun to be larger and brighter than they really are, leading consumers to think the food is fresher than it really is.
Frozen food packages are repeat offenders which show the meals perfectly plated with fresh ingredients. Where an image includes ingredients not included in the purchase, a “serving suggestion” disclaimer is a legal requirement. However, if a customer fails to notice the tiny caption, they often incorrectly assume that all illustrated items are included.
Deception in advertising is not just limited to food products. Hotels and resorts often alter images or use deceptive angles to manipulate the building’s real surroundings. For example, one hotel advertisement used a cleverly positioned low angle to feature what appears to be an endless pool. In truth, the pool is simply round in shape.
Children are also often cheated by commercials. When they finally receive that toy or outdoor paddling pool, they find that the product is far smaller than advertised. With nearly half of American consumers believing advertising to be “fairly honest”, it seems they will continue to be tricked into buying disappointing products.
1. The writer writes the first paragraph in order to ____.| A．inform an issue | B．introduce the topic |
| C．catch readers’ attention | D．deliver some phenomena |
| A．The food is not healthy enough. |
| B．It is difficult to know how to serve a frozen meal. |
| C．Some items shown on the box disappear. |
| D．The burger bun is smaller than they were expecting. |
| A．do not trust advertising companies |
| B．believe that advertising is not honest enough |
| C．think that the products are disappointing |
| D．will continue being deceived by false advertising |
| A．persuade people to boycott advertising |
| B．praise advertising companies for their creativity |
| C．raise public awareness regarding unreliable advertising |
| D．promote the use of advertisements and marketing material |
