| A．Worker and boss. |
| B．Student and teacher. |
| C．Customer and salesman. |
1. Where does the conversation take place?
| A．In a supermarket. | B．In the kitchen. | C．Over the phone. |
| A．Milk. | B．Carrots. | C．Yogurt. |
3 . Online grocery delivery has skyrocketed (飞涨) all over the world. Since COVID-19 cases have been declining, new companies such as Zapp, GoPuff, or Getir have entered the grocery delivery market with a mission to permanently change consumer habits. These rapid grocery delivery services make a novel promise: Groceries can be delivered within minutes to your door. This option sounds great to busy parents who cannot leave their children alone to pop into the store or people who have guests and urgently need a few extra beers without leaving the house. However, shoppers should watch out for the allure (诱惑) of rapid delivery whenever possible.
While a one-time rapid delivery is certainly harmless for the shopper and the whole market, repeatedly using such services will ultimately harm grocery shops and corner shops. So far, rapid delivery companies have been backed by capital fund (资金) to finance their costs，but they need to be profitable in the long run to survive. So they will push up prices and gradually cancel promotions once their capital funding has dried up. Last week, a delivery company was reported to have shut down after running out of cash, leaving its workers jobless. We should think about the serious outcome that may come up, such as much less lively cities that miss the small shops and delivery workers who face tight deadlines and little job security.
As consumers,we often think that our daily decisions are harmless. Just as one doughnut (甜甜圈) doesn’t compromise our healthy diet and one skipped workout doesn’t affect our fitness,one rapid delivery will not harm the little shops that make our neighborhood lively. Research shows that consumers who perform a behavior regularly for about six weeks have created a habit. So ordering rapid delivery every day will hurt our neighborhoods and make us poorer once prices increase.
Thus, approach the rapid delivery option as you would refuse to accept any other allure. Be careful not to create a habit that you might later come to regret.
1. What makes rapid grocery delivery appealing to consumers?| A．Saving time and energy. | B．Avoiding disease exposure. |
| C．Following the global trend. | D．Buying highly desirable goods. |
| A．Job market will be less completive. |
| B．Delivery services will make more profits. |
| C．Local commercial business will be promoted. |
| D．Small shops and delivery workers will be hurt. |
| A．To explain the harm of bad habits. | B．To make the argument more persuasive. |
| C．To add some background information. | D．To stress the value of decision-making. |
| A．Delivery companies will change how we shop |
| B．How can we manage to avoid being cheated online? |
| C．Shoppers should try to resist the allure of rapid delivery |
| D．How do grocery delivery companies affect small stores? |
| A．Golden. | B．Light blue. | C．Black. |
| A．She forgot the man’s order. |
| B．She dialed the wrong number. |
| C．She mistook the delivery address. |
6 . People generally like to pick out the best-looking fruits and vegetables when shopping for produce (农产品), but Canadian supermarket chain Loblaws is attracting customers with badly-shaped and faulty produce at the price of 30% lower than normal-looking one.
A trial run of the ugly food line, named “Naturally Imperfect”, began with only apples and potatoes to choose from. Consumer demand has been so huge that Loblaws is going to introduce more ugly vegetables and fruits like onions and mushrooms.
All the produce that will be sold through Naturally Imperfect would otherwise have been used in juices, sauces, or soups, or have not been harvested at all. The director Dan Branson explained that this program benefited both food producers who would otherwise have to let abnormal produce go to waste, and consumers who could buy fresh produce at low prices. And he was right, given how popular the line has become.
“It really went well beyond our expectation,” Branson said. “I think it really spoke to the fact that Canadians are out there really looking for some options.”
Of course, Canadians know that beauty is more than skin deep, and they also recognize that they can get the same flavor and nutritional benefits in spite of appearances. The positive response to the initial offering of apples and potatoes showed the opportunity to expand the line and offer more options at a greater price to Canadian families.
“If you grow produce in your backyard, there will be a lot of produce that won’t look as pretty as what you will see in a grocery store”, said Branson. “And nature doesn’t grow everything perfectly. I’d like to think if somebody were to take a No Name Naturally Imperfect apple, put it right beside a No.1 apple, close his eyes and eat them, there would be no difference.”
1. Loblaws is different from other supermarkets in that ______.| A．more fruits are offered at lower prices | B．normal-looking produce is forbidden there |
| C．only apples and potatoes are sold every day | D．imperfect produce is sold at lower prices there |
| A．prevents people from wasting their food | B．happens to be a win-win mode |
| C．teaches food producers how to grow | D．enables consumers to eat more fresh produce |
| A．Canadians are used to eating perfect produce. |
| B．Smart consumers know the importance of ugly produce. |
| C．Loblaws intends to improve customers’ quality of life. |
| D．Customers’ support promotes the development of the ugly food line. |
| A．Imperfect fruits are as tasty and nutritious as perfect ones. |
| B．The world is usually full of imperfect things. |
| C．We should eat imperfect apples with our eyes closed. |
| D．The fruits grown by ourselves are more nutritious than those in the store. |
7 . Not long ago, “blind box economy” suddenly became popular, winning the heart of large numbers of faithful fans. People simply get interested in it. A couple spent 200 thousand yuan on them. Another sixty-year-old guy spent over 700 thousand yuan in buying blind boxes. Statistics showed that last year 300 thousand hobbyists made deals through a second-hand shopping platform.
The blind boxes usually contain peripheral (附带的) dolls of comics and animation, or film and television, or specially designed ones. A single blind box usually costs about thirty to fifty yuan. But there is no mark on the box, and only after opening it can the buyer see what he has bought. This is rather like buying lottery tickets, for the buyer has to bet on his luck.
However, addiction to blind box is much like that to gambling (赌博). It is highly nontransparent compared with lottery ticket. Nobody knows whether sellers of blind boxes exaggerated (夸大) the winning rate so as to attract people to buy them, thus digging a consumption trap. Besides, it is also unknown whether the objects in the blind boxes are genuine or not. The blind box economy promoted its second-hand trade. The price of some classic dolls or dolls of limited edition have skyrocketed in second-hand trade platforms, and some may reach thirty to forty times. But it is difficult for buyers to judge whether it is the result of real supply and demand, or the consequence of businessmen’s tricks.
The basis of the “blind box economy” is the cultural trend of collection. Many of the target consumers are young people who have scanty experience of life. They are thus attracted by deliberately exaggerated probability of “winning a prize” and constantly throw money to buy blind boxes in order to gain dolls that they desire. Or they may buy at second-hand trade platform high-priced blind box dolls, thinking they can keep value preservation and appreciation, thus falling into the fixed pattern of trap carefully designed by businessmen.
Therefore, it is necessary to remind young people to control their consumption in case they become addicted.
1. Why are a couple and a sixty-year-old guy mentioned in Paragraph 1?| A．To stress the importance of “blind box economy” . |
| B．To give the sum of money spent on “blind box economy”. |
| C．To show the popularity of “blind box economy” . |
| D．To prove older people can afford to pay more. |
| A．The fondness of gambling to bet on their luck. |
| B．The high winning rate exaggerated by sellers. |
| C．The blind faith in the cultural trend of collection |
| D．The possibility of making a fortune in second-hand trade. |
| A．previous | B．inadequate | C．personal | D．unforgettable |
| A．To inform readers of the “blind box economy”. |
| B．To promote the products of “blind box economy”. |
| C．To list the reasons behind the popularity of “blind box economy”. |
| D．To warn the consumers to think twice before buying blind boxes. |
| A．Brown. | B．Yellow. | C．Pink. |
| A．Strangers. | B．Colleagues. | C．Husband and wife. |
1. What are the speakers mainly talking about?
| A．A problem. | B．A person. | C．A purchase. |
| A．The woman bought a dryer. |
| B．The dryer started to work poorly. |
| C．The company fixed the dryer. |
| A．$2. | B．$3. | C．$4. |
| A．Check the dryer. |
| B．Replace the dryer. |
| C．Repay the money. |
