1. Who does the man choose Christmas gifts for now?
| A．The staff of his company. |
| B．His relatives and friends. |
| C．His customers of his company. |
| A．His friends think highly of it. |
| B．His customers advise him to do so. |
| C．His company has ever done business with it. |
| A．Mr. Blake has resigned. |
| B．The man is superior to Mr. Blake. |
| C．Mr. Blake has been sent to the headquarter. |
| A．The gifts he has chosen. | B．The booklets of the gifts. | C．The samples he prefers. |
| A．Most websites are safe. |
| B．Most websites steal money. |
| C．More and more people shop online. |
1. Why does the woman come to the man?
| A．To express thanks. | B．To change a tie. | C．To make a complaint. |
| A．The design． | B．The colour. | C．The material. |
| A．20 dollars. | B．18 dollars. | C．10 dollars. |
| A．Its color is not her favorite. |
| B．It goes well with her handbag. |
| C．It’s a bit wide around the waist. |
5 . The Problem with Online Returns
Online shopping is booming: In 2020, Americans spent $ 813 billion online, a 42% increase over 2019. This year, experts expect that figure to top $ 1 trillion for the first time. But millions of those purchases will eventually get sent back.
When shoppers can’t physically examine products before purchase, they’re more likely to buy clothes that don’t fit or items that don’t suit their needs. People return on average about 25% of what they buy online, compared with 8% of what they buy in stores. However, many items that get returned never go back on sale.
Although it’s unlikely that returned items will be sold as new, some items get sent to discount stores.
In some cases, giant companies like Amazon and Target have begun telling customers to just keep their unwanted items rather than send them back. Third-party logistics businesses have also popped up to help clean up the return process. But that’s not enough on its own.
| A．It sounds shocking, but it all boils down to cost. |
| B．The responsibility falls on us consumers as well. |
| C．Those returns can have a big environmental impact. |
| D．Things like electronics could get separated into parts. |
| E．That increase has accelerated rapidly during the pandemic. |
| F．Instead, they’re often thrown out, even if they’re still brand-new. |
| G．In response, France forbade the destruction of unsold consumer goods. |
6 . Livestreaming (直播) through channels such as Amazon Live and QVC is an increasingly popular way to sell goods online. It usually lasts between 5 and 10 minutes, and someone promotes a product. Viewers can then readily buy it by clicking on a link.
We analyzed 99,451 sales cases on a livestream selling platform and matched them with actual sales cases. In terms of time, that is equal to over 2 million 30-second television advertisements.
To determine the emotional (情绪的) expression of the salesperson, we used two deep learning models: a face model and an emotion model. The face model discovers the presence or absence of a face in a frame (镜头) of a video stream. The emotion model then determines the probability that a face is exhibiting any of the six basic human emotions: happiness, sadness, surprise, anger, fear or disgust. For example, smiling signals a high probability of happiness, while an off-putting expression usually points toward anger.
We wanted to see the effect of emotions expressed at different times in the sales cases so we counted probabilities for each emotion for all 62 million frames in our database. We then combined these probabilities with other possible aspects that might drive sales—such as price and product characteristics—to judge the effect of emotion.
We found that, perhaps unsurprisingly, when salespeople show more negative emotions-such as anger and disgust—the volume of sales went down. But we also found that a similar thing happened when the salespeople show high levels of positive emotions, such as happiness or surprise.
A likely explanation, based on our research, is that smiling can be unpleasant because it lacks true feelings and can reduce trust in the seller. A seller’s happiness may be taken as a sign that the seller is gaining interests at the customer’s expense.
1. What can we know about the livestreaming in the first paragraph?| A．It damages the physical economy. |
| B．It helps to sell the products abroad. |
| C．It helps big companies promote all goods. |
| D．It is very convenient for the buyers to buy goods. |
| A．By analyzing previous data. | B．By referring to a theory. |
| C．By giving some examples. | D．By concluding different views |
| A．Surprising. | B．Delighting. | C．Displeasing. | D．Embarrassing. |
| A．Livestreamers Sell Products Successfully |
| B．Expressions Affect Selling Products Online |
| C．Emotions and Faces: What’s the Difference |
| D．Smiling Can Increase the Sales in Reality |
| A．In the classroom. | B．At home. | C．In a store. |
1. According to the man, what is the advantage of the electric car?
| A．It’s cheap. | B．It’s comfortable. | C．It’s environmentally friendly. |
| A．An electric car. | B．A midsize car. | C．A roomy SUV. |
| A．$195. | B．$152. | C．$190. |
9 . Our Favourite Tech Gifts of 2019
When it comes time for the holiday shopping season, we’re extra choosy about the countless technology products that we will buy and give to friends and family. Here’s what impressed editors, reporters and producers the most in 2019.
Lumos Matrix helmet
I recently bought a Lumos Matrix helmet(头盔)(﹩229)with built-in lights to make riding my bike at night a lot safer and less stressful. It’s a regular pain point for bikers like me to make sure careless drivers see you, especially when it’s dark. This does help.
-Matt Mcfarland, Writer
Goodreads app
Although this isn’t a gift, the free Goodreads app is a game changer. At the beginning of 2019, I promised myself I’d read at least one new book every month. I set a goal of 12 books on Goodreads and use it to track my progress, keep a list of books I’m interested in and check out what friends and others on the app were recommending. I read 35 books this year! (That’s up from five books last year.) Goodreads feels like one of the rare feel-good social networks.
-Kaya Yurieff, Tech Reporter
Ember coffee cup
I drink my coffee slowly, so it has routinely cooled by the time I get halfway through it. For my birthday, my mum bought me a cup (﹩99), which keeps my coffee warm until I finish it without reheating. I can also set the temperature I want. It makes my mornings so much easier.
-Millie Dent, Intern
1. What is the main advantage of Lumos Matrix helmet?| A．Helping drivers concentrate. | B．Managing the bad weather. |
| C．Making night riding safer. | D．Making bikers less painful. |
| A．It changes some readers’ reading rules. |
| B．It inspires readers to read more through communication. |
| C．It limits the number of books a reader can read. |
| D．It provides readers with free Internet games. |
| A．Simple. | B．Expensive. | C．Eco-friendly. | D．Convenient |
China is quickly becoming the fashion capital. Thanks to young consumers and social media, China is no longer looking to the West for fashion ideas,
China-Chic is the result of young people's renewed interest in Chinese culture and things that are guochao— brands and products
Nostalgia(怀旧) is part of this trend, with products such as White Rabbit candy and Bee Flower haircare products
Market researcher Elijah Whaley says, "Foreign brands used to have an advantage in the Chinese market by representing a Western lifestyle that
