1 . Data shows that Chinese brands are winning increasingly more consumers in recent years, especially among the younger generation. The trend is usually called “guochao”, or “Chinese fashion trend”, which has driven demand for domestic (国内的) brands and products that often include Chinese traditional culture and style.
Its main followers are millennial born between1980-1995 and Generation Z born between 1995 and 2010. Unlike the older generations who could have attachment to Western culture and brands, Chinese youth were born and raised when the country’s economy and wealth were taking off. The younger generation tends to have strong and genuine confidence in their national identity and traditional culture.
To woo young customers, these domestic names are making products with high quality and appeal by strengthening research and marketing efforts. An often-cited case is Li-Ning, China’s homegrown sportswear brand that is named after one of the nation’s most famous athletes. The company almost broke up after a failed rebranding in 2011 when it went through three years of losses after losing older customers while failing to attract younger buyers. It was not until the 2018 New York Fashion Week that the brand made its huge comeback. Its trendy look，bold use of color and traditional Chinese culture elements were showcased on the stage so that it immediately grabbed attention at home and abroad.
The trend to embrace domestic brands has spread rapidly to various sectors and products as well, from food and drinks to clothing and electronic vehicles. While many Chinese brands have been gaining significant market share at home in recent years, others are posting an increasingly stronger global presence.
In 2020, China’s tech giant Xiaomi reported its most profitable year on the back of expanded sales and global market share. Revenues (零售) from Haier Smart Home’s overseas business last year also marked an all-time high, ranking top list in global market share for major home appliance. Although some brands still face plenty of challenges ahead to meet the sophisticated needs of customers and regulations in overseas markets, most domestic products are still quite competitive in the international market.
1. What does “guochao” refer to？| A．Domestic brands’ rapid increase |
| B．Chinese brands’ growing popularity |
| C．Young generations’ craze about fashion |
| D．Chinese traditional culture’s revival |
| A．They believe that domestic products have relatively good quality. |
| B．Western brands and products are out of date to the young generations. |
| C．Older generations influence the young to favor domestic products. |
| D．The economic development enhances their belief in domestic products. |
| A．To introduce a new topic |
| B．To advertise a domestic brand |
| C．To present a convincing example |
| D．To explain a complicated concept |
| A．Chinese brands are gaining popularity both at home and abroad. |
| B．Sales of Haier Smart Home have topped the domestic market. |
| C．The future of the domestic brands in overseas market is unclear. |
| D．Many Chinese brands fail to meet the standard of overseas market. |
2 . The natural world provides humans with essential services. For instance, forests channel water into rivers that irrigate crops while their roots prevent landslides. Over decades, therefore, governments have made promises about preserving the world’s biodiversity.
However, those promises have been broken many times, which has caused the depressing destruction of natural environments. One step towards avoiding yet more disappointment is to emphasize the close link between preserving biodiversity and the widely held goal of reaching net-zero carbon emissions. Unfortunately, less known is the link between them.
Given that biodiversity has an important role in meeting these carbon-reduction goals, you might think it would feature highly in the net- emissions plans. Not so. For example, faced with tighter regulation of emissions, many companies are now channeling more time and cash to their firms’ carbon footprints reduction and energy transition, yet the plans have too little to say about biodiversity.
That needs to change. Sale guarding biodiversity is an efficient way to control carbon emissions. Companies and investment firms should pay more attention to the opportunities from preserving ecosystems. By investing in biodiversity—directing capital to projects that repair an ecosystem—companies can offset (抵消) their emissions. By some estimates, projects to manage carbon-rich wetlands and to reforest cleared and could provide more than one-third of the emissions reductions that are needed to prevent more than 2°C of global warming.
Key to managing more capital is better measurement so that the link between investment in natural projects, biodiversity and carbon is made clear. Today some so-called carbon-offset projects that involve firms paying money to are questionable and not supported by evidence. Better guidelines and practice can help and so can new technology. Drones and satellites can improve the measurement of biodiversity and accounting systems can measure how spending on biodiversity compares with pouring cash into other kinds of carbon management.
1. What do we know about biodiversity?| A．Its importance is undervalued. | B．Its link with carbon emissions is clear. |
| C．It is the source of carbon dioxide. | D．I gets promised benefits from governments. |
| A．To clarify a rule. | B．To make a conclusion. |
| C．To explain a plan. | D．To support an opinion. |
| A．Rebuilding wetlands. | B．Redirecting capital. |
| C．Cutting carbon emissions. | D．Transforming energy. |
| A．The natural world deserves more investment. |
| B．The key to managing capital is new regulations. |
| C．It is hard to achieve net-zero carbon emissions. |
| D．It is worthwhile spending money on clean energy. |
China will establish a pilot free trade zone or FTZ in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region
A high-quality FTZ with high standards
4 . According to a recent survey carried out by The Economist (经济学家) magazine, Ireland is by far and away the best country in the world to live in.
Once Ireland joined the EU in 1973, the base for economic growth started to be put into place. The 1990s saw the economic growth finally arrive-a total change in Ireland’s economic fortunes was born. The country experienced year-on-year growth of almost ten per cent and now has the fourth-highest GDP per head in the world — a massive 36.5 thousand dollars per person. Coupled with this has been a huge drop in unemployment (失业率) from 20 per cent15 years ago to around four per cent today, all of which has meant Dublin’s newspapers now come with larger job sections and the country is looking to import up to 300 thousand new workers in the next few years.
In many ways, Ireland is the perfect advertisement (广告) for the policies of the IMF and the World Bank as it is one of the few economies that has opened itself up to free trade, foreign investment (投资) and unregulated business activity, cut welfare (福利) spending and checked wage (工资) increases and yet still managed to grow rapidly.
1. When did Ireland join the EU?| A．In 1990. | B．In 1973. | C．In 1991. | D．In 1974. |
| A．Business activity is regulated in Ireland. |
| B．Dublin’s newspapers now come with smaller job sections. |
| C．Ireland is the bad advertisement for the policies of the IMF. |
| D．Ireland will import up to 300 thousand new workers in the future. |
| A．Free trade. | B．The advertisement. |
| C．The World Bank. | D．Ireland. |
| A．Technology. | B．Education. | C．Economy. | D．Nature. |
5 . UK taxpayers will pay tens of millions of pounds towards the cost of the King’s coronation.
The strain has pushed record numbers of people toward the UK’s legions of food banks providing free groceries as wages have failed to keep pace with inflation.
The Trussell Trust, which distributes groceries to about 1,200 food banks, said last week that its network had handed out nearly 3 million emergency food parcels in the year to the end of March.
“We are experiencing an unprecedented rise in the number of people coming to the food bank.
| A．That’s a record for a single year |
| B．Food price rises show no signs of pulling back |
| C．Inflation in the UK has rocketed over the past year |
| D．The increasingly higher prices are beyond people’s expectations. |
| E．Food banks have finally removed those long-accumulated products. |
| F．But millions of people are struggling to make ends meet as prices rise |
| G．They are no longer able to balance a low income against rising living costs |
| A. admire B. appeal C. attract D. benefits E. relevant F. entry G. eager H. expected I. launch J. maintain K. packaged |
Lin Wanqi, a 26-year-old resident of Shanghai, was among the earliest to try Luckin Coffee’s new Moutai-flavored latte. She was curious about how her beloved coffee tastes with Chinese liquor in it,
The partnership between China’s top liquor maker Kweichow Moutai and domestic coffee chain Luckin Coffee has become both a hot topic and a moneymaker, selling 5.42 million cups and grossing (总共赚得) 100 million yuan just on Sept 4, the product’s
“I
In 2023, China’s brand partnership market is
However, flawed partnerships may lead to negative consequences. Take the collaboration between Chinese coffee chain Manner and French luxury brand Louis Vuitton (LV), for example. Consumers could get a free LV canvas bag by buying at least two books in the coffee shop. The two books would cost at least 580 yuan. The campaign was harshly criticized for the high barrier of
Similarly, in July this year, milk tea brand Heytea and jewellery brand Chow Tai Fook jointly launched a peach-flavored drink, which was mocked by internet users as neither
China is one of the few countries that can trace (追溯) its existence back over thousands of years down to 221 BC
Over history, the Chinese people created their language and their civilization.
The last 45 years have
8 . When you see the Lion of Judah you do not think “e-commerce”. Its lower decks (甲板) have 467 beds where passengers sleep when travelling up the Amazon River. But when the Amazon’s largest department store, Bemol, started delivering to customers in the rainforest, these three-decker passenger boats were its chosen means of transport.
Bemol sold fridges and televisions in the traditional way from its stores in Manaus until 2018, when one of the founders’ grandsons, Denis Minev, took over. He suspected there were hundreds of thousands of customers up and down the Amazon that Bemol wasn’t reaching and decided to go to them.
But delivering parcels in the rainforest is difficult and expensive. Consumers in far places either had to pay up to 30% of the product’s price for shipping and wait a month or longer for the postal service to deliver it or spend money and time on shopping trips to Manaus. Mr Minev made what sounded like an impossible promise: to deliver an order placed online within a week for not more than the “Manaus price”.
Mr Minev’s experience at a cooking-gas firm, also owned by his family, showed him how challenging the Amazon’s delivery could be. So rather than bu his own boats, risking crashes, fuel theft and high debt, Mr Minev oulsourced (外包) delivery to the brightly painted ships that carry people and provisions around the region.
To encourage Amazonians to place their first online orders, Bemol set up Wi-Fi in every town where it launched e-commerce. Amazonians who lack savings or credit cards can use zero-interest loans starting at $26 to finance their purchases; 85% of Bemol’s online sales are paid for in this way. Bemol allows returns, but encourages customers to accept vouchers (代金券) instead. “The traditional e-commerce model without a physical presence doesn’t work in the Amazon,” says Mr Minev.
1. What does the underlined word “them” in paragraph 2 refer to?| A．The founders of Bemol. | B．Bemol’s stores in Manaus. |
| C．Customers along the Amazon. | D．Passengers on the Lion of Judah. |
| A．They can obtain a discount of 30%. |
| B．They can return products within a month. |
| C．They can pay after receiving their ordered products. |
| D．They can enjoy market prices and a fast delivery service. |
| A．Bemol’s ways to increase online sales in the Amazon. |
| B．Difficulties of launching e-commerce in the Amazon. |
| C．The trend of placing online orders among Amazonians. |
| D．The influence of e-commerce on Amanianc |
| A．The rise of e-commerce | B．The challenge for Bemol |
| C．Department stores online | D．Parcels in the rainforest |
TikTok, a hugely popular short-form video platform, shut down its Shop application in Indonesia after a ban
TikTok Shop is one of the social network’s
The app itself was not banned in Indonesia. But people there could no longer buy or sell goods through TikTok or other social media platforms. The rules, which essentially require the separation of e-commerce and social media,
Some Indonesian businessmen who
The ban in Indonesia, home to six million sellers on TikTok, could increase the pressure on TikTok Shop in the other countries
10 . When talking about well-known products from the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, the conversation often turns to mutton, fruits or nuts. What is less well known is that the fish raised in this vast region’s meltwaters are building up
In recent days, this
Amid rising
The development of Xinjiang’s aquafarming industry has been a striking example of notable leaps in China’s ecological management strategies. Annual reports say that Bosten Lake in Xinjing alone will have a substantial harvest
The success of Xinjiang’s seafood industry has filled significant gap in the Chinese market, particularly after the government’s decision to
Critical to Xinjiang’s aquaculture success story are the ecological reforms that have laid a solid foundation for it. The Chinese government’s mighty focus on the management and restoration of water bodies has
Xinjiang into a prosperous seafood production hub is not a (n)
The seafood not only provides
| A．reputation | B．enthusiasm | C．knowledge | D．resistance |
| A．unusual | B．wild | C．conventional | D．profitable |
| A．begged | B．urged | C．enabled | D．ordered |
| A．agreement | B．concern | C．curiosity | D．objection |
| A．customers | B．marketers | C．alternatives | D．rivals |
| A．resembles | B．overrates | C．offsets | D．outpaces |
| A．guaranteed | B．doomed | C．allowed | D．projected |
| A．on the rise | B．beyond description | C．under control | D．without consideration |
| A．apart from | B．as a result of | C．in terms of | D．in spite of |
| A．return | B．regular | C．brief | D．countryside |
| A．keep up | B．call up | C．call off | D．put off |
| A．risk | B．debate | C．shift | D．growth |
| A．marked | B．restricted | C．fed | D．traced |
| A．crucial | B．domestic | C．controversial | D．isolated |
| A．appropriate | B．natural | C．diverse | D．obvious |
