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

New E-Commerce Law Takes Effect

China’s new e-commerce law, which was passed last August, took effect on January 1. The law comes amid the rapid development of China into the world’s largest e-commerce market.

The law aims to regulate the market and create a sound     1     environment. It covers the requirement for registration and licensing of e-commerce operators, taxation, electronic payment, etc. It also     2     other important aspects of e-commerce, including false advertising, consumer protection, data protection, intellectual property and cybersecurity.

The new law will apply to three types of operators. These include e-commerce     3     operators like Taobao, third-party merchants who sell goods and services on e-commerce platforms, and online vendors (供应商) who do business via other network     4    , such as social media sites. It means that merchants who sell goods through non-traditional e-commerce platforms, such as WeChat, will fall under the new law. These sellers will now need to finish their business registration and pay     5     taxes.

The law will make all e-commerce platform operators     6     responsible with the merchants for selling any fake or knock-off goods on their websites. Before the law took effect, individual merchants were solely responsible when caught selling liable (负有偿付责任的) goods.

The implementation of the law may bring     7     on online retail (零售) companies and merchants selling goods through social media sites. Many private shopping agents (known as daigou) are considering whether to continue the service under the new policy since it will increase the management cost and lead to a rise in the product price.

But the new law does not aim to     8     small to medium sized online retailer. Instead, it helps lay the legal foundation for the growth of the e-commerce business industry,     9     order in the market and further promotes its growth.

Besides, the law will help clean up China’s reputation as a     10     source of fake or knock-off goods. In the long term, consumers will benefit from it.

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

A. surrounding   B. confidence   C. artificial   D. encouraging E. technologyF. recognized   G. introduced   H. doubt I. launched   J. basic   K. strong

For many years large supermarkets have been encouraging us to spend money by pumping the smell of freshly-baked bread into their stories. Now Dale Air, a leading firm of aroma(香气)consultants, has been approached by Barclay’s Bank to develop suitable     1     smells for their banks. Researchers have suggested that     2     customers with the "smell of money" will encourage them to feel relaxed and give them added     3     in the bank’s security and professionalism.

Aroma experts have little     4     that it can be an effective form of subconscious advertising. Lunn Poly, a British travel company,       5     the smell of coconuts into its travel agencies and saw a big increase in spending by holiday makers. Many cafes now have electric dispensers(自动售货机)that release the smell of freshly roasted coffee near their entrances, subtly     6     customers to come in and have a drink or snack.

“The sense of smell is probably the most     7     of all human senses, “explains researcher Jim O’Rordan. It is certainly true that most people find certain smells unbelievably     8     , stringing(连成一串)memories and feelings in a way that few other stimulants can compete. It is a phenomenon marketing consultants have long     9    , but until recently have been unable to bring it under control.”We’ve made great progress but the     10     of odour(smell)production is still in its infancy(婴儿期), “says O’Rordan, “Who knows where it will take us.”

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

Pension bonds (债券) and a novel idea for providing retirement income

When people stop working, they need a retirement income. Some are lucky enough to have an employer-provided     1     linked to their salary. Everyone else faces a difficult choice. Some keep their pension in cash and watch as it wears away with inflation. Others use savings products with high fees and risk being hurt by a stock market downturn. A third option is an annuity, which     2     a lifelong income but vanishes at death, even if that is a week after retirement.

Lionel Martellini of EDHEC, a French business school, and Robert Merton of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (a Nobel laureate in economics) have come up with a(n)     3    . Workers would buy government-issued bonds while in employment; these bonds would pay no interest until retirement. Over the next 20 years (the typical life expectancy on retirement) bond holders would receive payments     4     interest plus the return of the capital. These would be linked to inflation, or another     5     such as average consumption. So a worker born in 1970, say, would buy a bond that made payments from 2035 until 2055. Every     6     innovation needs a specific name, and these are called SLFIES (Standard of Living Indexed, Forward — starting Income — only Securities).

These bonds would act somewhat like annuities, though without     7     against the risk of living much longer than expected. One big advantage is that if holders die before the final year of the bond, the capital would be passed to their children. They could also be attractive to corporate pension     8     and institutions such as sovereign-wealth funds. But if bond yields stay as low as they are now, workers will still need a big pension pot to be able to retire     9    . The average pension pot of an American aged 40-55 is $14,500. That will not     10     much comfort, whatever financial products it buys.

4 . Directions; Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

Why Do Chinese Parents Prefer Legos to Barbies?

Budding engineers cluster around a table - sized model of the China Art Museum, a landmark of Shanghai, adding helipads, carrot patches and other improvements with     1     bricks. Prising a child from Lego’s vast shop near People’s Square can be like     2     two stubborn bits of Lego. Li Yang, visiting for a few days from Shenzhen, has been waiting for her daughter for two hours. Zhu Yunfei, watching his son,     3     at the variety: “Coming here to play with him is making up for my childhood,” he says. They drop by every week.

Lego’s rise in China has been rapid and dramatic. In 2017 it     4     Alpha Group, a local giant, to become the country’s leading toy company (not including video games). In the past two years it has opened 89 stores. It wants 50 more by December, which will bring it to 30 cities. Its first Chinese factory started molding bricks in 2016. The toy industry is growing by 9% annually in the country, but the Danish firm’s Chinese arm notches up “very strong double digits,” says Paul Huang, its boss.

It has done so even as the brick maker’s global business has looked shakier. In 2017 Lego cut 1,400 jobs and     5     its first drop in revenues and profits in over a decade. But last year both ticked up again, by 4% each. Lego has thus     6     its status as the world’s biggest toy-maker, taken from Mattel in 2014 -- even as its American rival last year     7     its highest revenues in five years from its Barbie dolls.

Newly affluent（富裕的）parents in China have helped Lego     8    . “We have not maxed out there, by far,” says Niels Christiansen, whom Lego brought in as chief executive two years ago. As in the West, the educational merits of bricks     9     to Chinese parents. Last year 98% of those surveyed by Lego said that play was     10     for their child’s well-being, even more than Americans and Danes.

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.

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.

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

Minimum wage laws in the U.S. were first introduced during the 1930s in response to the Great Depression. This period was     1     by falling output, falling prices, and falling employment. The National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) of 1933 attempted to stop this downward trend by encouraging the     2     of trade association agreements that established the lowest price and minimum wages. This was the first time that minimum wages were introduced in major industries. But in 1935, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the NIRA was unlawful, and these initial minimum wage agreements came to an end.

In 1938, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) established a national minimum wage of $0.25 an hour. This Act     3     only applied to a relatively small share of the labor force, but has been     4     over time so that it now applies to about 90% of all nonsupervisory workers.

Introductory economies textbooks usually first introduce the minimum wage as an application of demand and supply analysis. This starting discussion is usually based on the following     5    : the labor market is perfectly competitive, the minimum wage covers all workers, and worker productivity is     6     by the wage rate.

While minimum wage increases generally receive     7     public support, economists have generally argued that such laws will result in an increase in the unemployment rate in low-wage labor markets.

An issue related to that of a minimum wage is a growing movement for a “living wage”.Living wage proposals suggest that the     8     minimum wage is too low to allow families to be above the poverty level. Now,     9     of this view support “living wage laws” that require the local government to only accept contracts from firms that pay their workers a wage that is high enough to     10     the worker above the poverty line. Under Baltimore’s “living wage” requirement, firms must pay a worker an hourly wage that will allow a full-time worker to receive an annual income greater than or equal to the poverty level for a family of three.

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

Although many companies offer tuition repayment, most companies only repay employees for classes that are     1     to their position. This is a very limiting policy. A company that repays employees for all college credit courses—whether job related or not—offers a service not only to the employees, but to the entire company.

One good reason for giving employees     2     tuition repayment is that it shows the company’s commitment to its employees. In today’s economy, where job security is a thing of the past and employees feel more and more expendable, it is important for a company to     3     to its employees that it cares. The best way to do this is with concrete     4     in them. In turn, this commitment to the betterment of company employees will create greater employee     5    . A company that puts out funds to pay for the education of its employees will get its money     6     by having employees stay with the company longer. It will reduce employee turnover, because even employees who don’t take advantage of the tuition repayment program will be more loyal to their company just knowing that their company cares     7     to pay for their education. Most importantly, the company that has an unrestricted tuition repayment program will have higher quality employees. Although these companies do indeed run the risk of losing money on employees who go on to another job in a different company as soon as they get their     8    , more often than not, the employee will stay with the company.

And even if employees do leave after graduation, it generally takes several years to complete any degree program. Thus, even if the employee leaves upon graduating, throughout those years, the employer will have a more sophisticated, more intelligent, and therefore more valuable and productive employee. And, if the employee stays, that education will     9     benefit the company: Not only is the employee more educated, but now that employee can be     10     so the company doesn’t have to fill a high-level vacancy from the outside. Open positions can be filled by people who already know the company well. Though unconditional tuition repayment requires a significant investment on the employer’s part, it is perhaps one of the wisest investments a company can make.

8 . 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.

9 . Directions: Fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box. Each word can be used only once. Not that there is one word more than you need.

UNIQLO’s founder tries to find a way to beat Zara and H&M

When asked what guides his vision of UNIQLO, Tadashi Yanai, its founder and chief executive, pulls off the shelf the 1987 autumn/winter collection catalogue of Next, a mass-market British retailer. All of the clothes are so     1    , he says, that they could be worn today. While Zara of Spain and H&M of Sweden follow fashion trends without having any original thought, UNIQLO of Japan     2     to timeless basics.

Mr. Yanai has a/an     3     base at home from which to develop into his Western competitors’ main markets of Europe and America. But instead his     4     remains Asia. “Asia is the engine of growth today,” he says, pointing to the millions of consumers across the     5     who are reaching the middle class. UNIQLO will open its first shop in India this year and is considering     6     into Vietnam and other countries (it has already opened networks of shops in Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand).

The success or not of UNIPLO’s overseas operations     7     greatly to investors at home. Fast Retailing’s shares --- Mr. Yanai owns just over 20% of the firm --- have been rising since 2015, analysts estimate, largely owing to its international expansion and improved logistics (物流). At home the firm is closing stores because the population is     8    . Last year UNIQLO’s international profits overtook its     9     sales for the first time and its foreign operation profits almost equaled its Japanese equivalent.

Though they are very different markets, Europe and America offer a cautionary tale. UNIQLO in America struggled outside the big cities of the east and west coasts. Growth in America remains     10     for UNIQLO both there and in Europe. However, Mr. Yanai, an enthusiastic fan of globalization, is confident that he can guide UNIQLO through the changes needed.

10 . 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.