1 . These days it's hard not to have an opinion about Amazon. While some choose to focus on the negative, including workplace environment concerns in some of its warehouses or the impact that online retail（零售）has had on traditional physical retail stores, many others are extraordinarily grateful for the ability the company has provided during the pandemic（大流行病）to easily order almost anything and receive it in a timely, reliable manner without having to step outside their homes.
The debate is the positive impact that the company is having on small businesses, including minority-owned businesses. Amazon's Prime Day Event（scheduled for Oct. 13-14）offers an interesting example.
Given the convenience of huge traffic（物流）on Prime Day , that's powerful motivation for consumers to purchase from small businesses—something that a lot of people may not have tried just yet. The move also encourages the company which helps small businesses across the US, which represent over 99. 5% of all US businesses and employ half the country's workforce. While many might assume that Amazon and other online retailers have only negatively impacted small businesses（and, no doubt, many small businesses have been hurt by the rapid shift to online shopping brought on by the pandemic）, there's a whole range of small businesses that have benefited from being on Amazon.
Some of these are existing small businesses that have successfully transitioned to functioning in the digital world of online shopping, while others are new small businesses that have been created specifically for the online world, including app developers, content creators, and more. Toyin Kolawole, an entrepreneur（企业家）who immigrated to the U. S. from Nigeria about 20 years ago, provides some fascinating experiences. "I started my company with two products and would go to food shows trying to get noticed," she said. "It was very expensive to participate and hard to make an impact." But she eventually succeeded in getting some of her products into Walmart and Mariano's. "With Amazon, I could take my flour and just put it in the flour section, so it gave me the opportunity to compete fairly," she says.
1. What is implied about Amazon in the first paragraph?| A．Most people pay little attention to small business on Amazon recently. |
| B．Many are satisfied with the convenience it brings to their shopping during the pandemic. |
| C．Many people think it has negative impact on traditional physical retail stores. |
| D．People are rarely concerned about the workplace environment in some of is warehouses. |
| A．The event represents 99.5% of US business and employs half the country's workforce. |
| B．The interesting event of Amazon is scheduled from now to October 13-14. |
| C．Consumers are motivated to do online shopping for convenient delivery on that day. |
| D．This event has done more harm to small businesses by the rapid shift to online shopping. |
| A．Adapted. | B．Related. |
| C．Contributed. | D．Changed. |
| A．It was helpful for her to be given the opportunity to compete fairly. |
| B．It was very expensive to start the small business on Amazon. |
| C．It was hard to make her products to have an impact on Amazon. |
| D．It was useless to go to food shows trying to get noticed on Amazon. |
2 . Although e-commerce has grown on the back of technological innovation, increasing smartphone usage and rising demand from consumers with bigger disposable(可支配的) incomes, it is far from posing any major threat to physical retail stores.
Indeed, growth of both the bricks-and-mortar(实体店) and e-commerce sectors are held up by a variety of systemic and structural issues that prevent the retail market from flourishing further. The first is fear of fraud(欺骗)from African consumers. Online trade is not an area that most Africans consider to be trustworthy, and many consumers still believe that any demand for payment from an online source represents a trick.
This fear is worsened by a logistics network affected by problems—poor transport infrastructure and intermittent(间歇的) supply of electricity. To make matters worse, address records in many African nations are sub-standard, meaning that instances of undelivered packages, mislaid items or delays are frequent.
Even if c-commerce manages to solve these physical infrastructure troubles, and mobile operators manage to plough ever greater levels of capital expenditure to ensure that network coverage is strong, a potentially bigger problem remains. Levels of basic literacy in Africa are perhaps the lowest of any continent in the world. Around 153 million adults in Africa (around 38% of the population) are considered illiterate(不识字的).These structural issues are therefore likely to hold e-commerce back.
However, the irrefutable point is that access to technology is on the rise in continental Africa, bringing a larger range of goods to a wider range of consumers, and that signals a positive future for e-commerce companies that are prepared to play a long-term game in shaping a rapid-growing sector.
1. Which of the following is NOT the reason why e-commerce develops fast?| A．Sound infrastructure. | B．Fear of being cheated. |
| C．Innovation of technology. | D．Customers' rising demand. |
| A．High rate of illiteracy. |
| B．Lack of access to the Internet. |
| C．The development of retail market. |
| D．High level of capital expenditure. |
| A．Promising. | B．Pessimistic. |
| C．Worried. | D．Uncertain. |
| A．The problems Africa faces. |
| B．Commercial development of Africa. |
| C．The severe financial situation in Africa. |
| D．The problems of e-commerce in Africa. |
3 . Many workers have had no choice but to adapt to working from home in recent months since offices shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic (新冠疫情). And the noisy situation and endless housework may result in a terrible emotion. A new option is waiting for you. That is WFH: work from a hotel.
Hotel Figuero
A special program titled Work Perks aims to reposition some of 94-year-old Hotel Figuero’s 268 rooms as day-use offices.
According to Managing Director Connie Wang, the set-up launched in June and is a great opportunity to get out of their houses with high-speed Wi-Fi, unlimited printing privileges and free parking. The 350-square-foot rooms sell for $ 129 per day, with an option to extend to an overnight stay for an additional $ 20.
The Wythe
A boutique hotel in Brooklyn. The hotel recently announced a partnership with co-working office space company Industrious through which it is recycling 13 second-story guest rooms to serve as offices for up to four people.
Each of the rooms has a small outdoor platform, and dogs are welcome. Pricing starts at $ 200 and goes up to $ 275, depending on how many people use the space.
The Sawyer
The Sawyer, in Sacramento, California, is offering pool cabanas (更衣室) for use as outdoor offices, complete with fast Wi-Fi, free parking and catered lunch for $ 150 per day.
HotelsByDay
Yannis Moati founded HotelsByDay back in 2015. That company has grown to include more than 1,500 hotels, and has seen a significant increase in the number of inquiries for day-use bookings lately.
Moati said the current situation will force hotels to upgrade themselves to stay alive, and he predicted that offering rooms for day-use only is one of the directions they will go.
1. How much should one pay for a 24-hour stay in Hotel Figuero?| A．$ 129. | B．$ 149. | C．$ 150. | D．$ 200. |
| A．The Wythe. | B．The Sawyer. |
| C．HotelsByDay. | D．Hotel Figuero. |
| A．He started a program titled Work Perks. |
| B．He has upgraded at least 1,500 rooms. |
| C．He usually predicts everything correctly. |
| D．He is optimistic about the WFH trend. |
