1 . Time is running out for the 30-second TV commercial

The 30-second television commercial was once a cultural icon. Unfortunately, it has lost that status. TV commercials are destined for history museums, along with cassette players and dial-up telephones.

TV commercials had their golden era in the 1960s. People had lots of time, particularly after work. There were no emails, text messages or social networks to follow. TV was limited to a handful of stations that only broadcast during certain times of the day.

Commercials were part of the TV experience. They offered a window into the new world of packaged goods, automobiles and airline travel. Thanks to TV commercials, people could learn about these products without having to get up from the sofa.

That’s not the case anymore. For today’s internet-enabled consumers, TV commercials are probably the least efficient way to learn about a product. They are 30 seconds of sell (推销), while all we really want to do is sit back and watch our show.

Time-shifting — the ability to fast forward and rewind (倒回) — has made it possible for us to make watching TV just one more scheduled activity in our already packed diaries. It’s not that we don’t want to hear from brands. It’s just that we don’t want to hear from them during the time we have set aside to watch TV. A study last year showed that 84 percent of respondents wanted to fast forward through the ads they watched. More than 60 percent of them, meanwhile, downloaded shows so that they could skip commercials.

Hence the concept of “interruptive advertising.” People don’t want to be interrupted by advertising. They only want to engage with it when they are in consumer mode and thus in the proper mood for a brand’s message.

So, are TV commercials dead already? What sort of brand message is appropriate today? The answer isn’t yet clear, but pre-roll (片前的) ads may be part of the solution. People are less likely to consider such ads annoying since they start to roll before the viewer has a chance to engage with the show. It might be followed up by a page on the show’s website, with links that allow the viewer to connect more deeply with the brand.

1. According to the author, television commercials are outdated because ______.
①people’s attention is taken by many things
②there are alternative ways of promoting products
③there are all kinds of information on the internet
④time-shifting has made it possible for us to skip TV commercials

A．①②③	B．①②④
C．①③④	D．②③④

2. According to the article, which of the following statements is NOT true?

A．People have a busier work schedule now than in the 1960s.

B．People no longer care about the brand message in the commercials.

C．People tend to skip commercials when they spare time to watch TV.

D．People will feel annoyed when they watch interruptive television ads.

3. According to the article, people’s attitude towards pre-roll ads is more ______.

A．Critical	B．supportive
C．casual	D．conservative

2 . Directions: Fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box. Each word can be used only once.   Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. branch        B. department   C. appropriate   D. expansion        E. withdrew       F. dominated G. licensed       H. contract          I. considerable       J. brands             K. breakthrough

Foreign Giants Target Chinese Milk Market

European dairy products giant Arla Foods has chosen a leading Chinese milk manufacturers as a business partner for its     1     in China—a clear sign that overseas companies are starting to cultivate huge China’s dairy market by tying up with local players.

Arla signed the cooperation     2    , which comes into effect this month, with Mengniu Dairy at the end of August to set up a milk-powder joint venture in Hohhot, capital of North China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The deal between Arle Foods and Mengniu can be seen as a new     3     for Multinational’s re-entry into the sector.

Many foreign giants have found it difficult to create     4     profits in domestic milk market, especially the liquid-milk sector, which is followed closely by price wars and dominated by local

    5    —companies like Danone, Kraft and Friesland Coberco have quitted dairy production in China.

A few have been successful—Nestle, Intel, Bristo-Myers Squibb and Wyeth have     6     the high-end milk-formula market in China.

“We will watch the market closely and re-invest here in a(n)     7     time,” an official of the Dutch firm Friesland said when it     8     its investment in its Tianjin joint venture last year after eight years.

The company has     9     its Chinese partner to continue using its Dutch Lady brand and also sells its imported Friso infant foods, Dutch Lady milk powder and Dutch Lady Calcimex in the Chinese market through its     10     company in Hong Kong.

3 . Directions: Complete the passage with the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

Cryptocurrencies, also digital currencies, are under the microscope as never before. On Tuesday the blockchain （区块链）supporting bitcoin （比特币）is     1     in two, as members of the bitcoin community unhappy with the digital currency’s direction set up a(n)     2     called Bitcoin Cash. However, Bitcoin Cash will likely only be worth a part of bitcoin. The original digital currency is     3     at around $2,778,39, but future values for Bitcoin Cash are just $ 288.35, or 0.103 of a bitcoin.

Last week the Russian national Alexander Vinnik, who    4     cheated early adopters of millions of pounds’ worth of bitcoins, including funds obtained from the hack （非法侵入）of failed bitcoin exchange Mt Gox, was arrested in Greece.

Vinnik was described by the US Department of Justice as the operator of BTC-e, an exchange used to trade bitcoin since 2011, which was used to transfer more than $4bn for people involved in crimes.Greeek police claimed that the 38-year-old was “an internationally     5     ‘mastermind’ of a crime organistation”.

US authorities also linked him to the failure of Mt Gox, the Japan-based bitcoin exchange that     6     in 2014 after being hacked. Vinnik “obtained” funds from the hack and transferred them through BTC-e and Tradehill, another San Francisco-based exchange he owned, according to court documents.

The Russian authorities have become progressively concerned about potential for digital currencies to be used for illegal means, but remain     7     about whether it is a currency or a financial property. Elvira Nabiullina, governor of the Russian central bank, he said it should be     8     as a digital property. “We don’t consider that bitcoin can be considered as a(n)     9       currency,” she told CNBC.

But the country’s deputy finance minister, Alexey Moiseev, recently said the authorities hoped to recognise bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as a legal financial instrument next year in a (n)     10     to handle Vinnik-style money transferring.

4 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

Have you ever wondered     1     you would do to solve math problems if you didn’t have a calculator or computer or even pencil and paper? People in China have used an ancient counting tool     2     (perform) mathematical operations. The Chinese calculator’s name is “suanpan”, but it is known     3    “abacus” in English. Invented by Liu Hong, abacus is one of the symbols of Chinese people’s wisdom     4     (date) back to the 12th century. Abacus has had a far-reaching influence on science and technology, language, literature, art, architecture and many     5     fields of China and even some areas of the world. Meanwhile, abacus has affected people’s character, such as honesty and diligence. For centuries, this simple counting device     6     (pass) down through different dynasties with its original design and purpose     7     (actual) unchanged. The calculations can be made on it immediately, with the device storing the results in “visual storage” much like a computer display.     8     working with an amount of numbers, an abacus is practically faster, since it has a     9     (good) “keyboard” than the Western calculators. Anyway, the small abacus has made an outstanding     10     (contribute) in the fields of human intellectual development, just as the computer does in today’s society.

5 . Directions: Fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box. Each word can be used only once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

The Internet E-commerce and globalization are making a new economic age possible. In the future, capitalist markets will largely be replaced by a new kind of economic system based on     1     relationships, contractual arrangements and access rights.

Has the quality of our lives at work, at home and in our communities increased in direct proportion to all the new Internet and business-to-business Internet services being introduced into our lives? I have asked this question of hundreds of CEOs and corporate executives in Europe and the United States. Surprisingly, virtually everyone has said, “No, quiet     2    .” They say they are working longer hours, feel more stressed, are more impatient, and are even less civil in their dealings with colleagues and friends-not to mention strangers. And what’s more revealing, they place much of the blame on the very same technologies they are so     3     supporting.

The technological leader promised us that access would make life more convenient. Instead, the very technological wonders that were supposed to     4     us have begun to enslave us in a web of connections from which there seems to be no easy     5    .

If an earlier generation was preoccupied with the quest to enclose a vast     6     land, the .com generation, it seems, is more caught up in the colonization of time. Every spare moment of our time is being filled with some form of commercial connection, making time itself the     7     of all resources.

And while we have created every kind of labor-and time-saving device to service our needs, we are beginning to feel like we have less time available to us than any other humans in history. Maybe we need to ask what kinds of connections really     8     in the e-economy age. If this new technology     9     is only about super efficiency, then we risk losing something even precious than time-our sense of what it means to be a(n)     10     human being.

6 . There is no doubt eCommerce is growing, and it will continue to grow. However, physical stores would not die as a result of the rise of eCommerce, at least not in the near future. The idea that eCommerce is taking over physical stores has already misguided many people. Physical stores are far from vanishing, and there are some solid reasons for it.

The projections for online spending is optimistic with $150 billion expected to be spent in the coming three years, yet we are also expecting $300 billion in spending at physical stores in the same duration. Do you still think that physical-store shopping is too small to sustain the eCommerce blow?

Even though consumers are staying away from physical stores that follow older concepts, yet we are seeing the rise of fresh concept stores all around the US. We are seeing innovative and attractive success stories of physical stores, ranging from clothes stores to restaurants to health spas. It would be easy to assume that this trend will continue.

Indeed, many shopping malls are dying, yet there are still those shopping centers that are performing well. You can see this for yourself by visiting shopping malls near you. What I want to emphasize here is that not all shopping centers are made equal, just like not all eCommerce retailers are made equal. Both shopping malls and eCommerce sites can lose business if they fail to maintain productivity through improvements and innovations. When you visit shopping centers that are serious about their business, you would see their shops and parking lots packed.

On the other hand, even e-tailers like Amazon have experimented with pop-up shopping concepts. It is important to bear in mind that consumers prefer face-to-face interactions instead of online interactions during shopping, meaning that physical stores are going to stay there.

Still, eCommerce retailers are seeing all of their excitement disappear as they settle the sales tax problem associated with e-tailing. As of now, five states of America have already imposed sales tax on purchases through eCommerce sites, and e-tailers in those states have already witnessed 6 to 12 percent decrease in sales.

This reinforces the fact that physical stores are here to stay, and if you are still undervaluing their growth, you are omitting a huge chunk of the retail representation.

1. The underlined word "projections" in Paragraph 2 probably means____.

A．intentions	B．assessments
C．performances	D．predictions

2. What can we infer from the passage?

A．E-tailers are more creative businesses.

B．Fresh concepts help build good business.

C．Fewer consumers will visit physical stores.

D．Physical stores can’t stand the blow of eCommerce.

3. What is the best title for this passage?

A．Is Offline Spending Greater Than Online Spending?

B．Online Stores V.S. Physical Stores — What’s the Difference?

C．Will Physical Stores replace eCommerce in the Near Future？

D．Does eCommerce Success Mean Physical Stores Will Disappear?

4. Which of the following shows the development of the passage?
CP: Central Point        P: Point        Sp: Sub-point (次要点)        C: Conclusion

A．	B．
C．	D．