1. What does the woman possibly do?
| A．She is a manager. |
| B．She is a salesperson. |
| C．She is a hotel receptionist. |
| A．He is going on a trip. |
| B．He will have an interview. |
| C．He wants to realize his wife’s dream. |
| A．Half a day. | B．One day. | C．One week. |
| A．$124.5. | B．$249. | C．$140. |
1. How much will the man pay for the membership?
| A．$95. | B．$110. | C．$260. |
| A．From a shop. | B．From a website. | C．From the club. |
| A．A manager. | B．A fitness trainer. | C．A club receptionist. |
3 . To be honest. I’ve been missing the online shopping experience in China since I moved to the US four years ago. So when I noticed Shein becoming mainstream in the US over the past few years, I though, Great! I finally have a Taohao replacement! So I went on my first Shein journey in August 2022.
But somewhere along the way, I started questioning why I enjoy this particular kind of shopping, and also what it means for an e-commerce platform to offer endless deals.
To be fair, there are Shein purchases that I’ve really enjoyed, like a $2 nylon watchband that feels better than my original Apple Watch band. I also think people should be able to choose quantity and price over quality, because the idea of demanding that people only buy premium products feels unrealistic.
But as it turns out, I’ve finally started to see through the illusion (错觉) of Shein-like platforms. To get these occasional incredible deals, you are encouraged to shop much more than is necessary or even reasonable. This illusion has worked for a long time and for a lot of people, including me! But it’s become harder and harder to ignore the environmental consequences of my purchases, and the ways in which platforms trick people into buying more and more.
And I don’t think I’m the only one experiencing that awakening. Broadly speaking, I think society is slowly but surely shifting toward recognizing the climate impact of mass-produced cheap goods. While these conversations have yet to happen as widely and furiously in China, companies like Taobao and Shein will inevitably have to answer the question of whether their business model is sustainable for everyone—or only for themselves. So where are they beading from here? There’s certainly a lot of soul-searching for the industry to do.
And I’m doing some soul-searching of my own.
1. Why does the author mention a “$2 nylon watchband”?| A．To compare it with her original band. |
| B．To persuade readers to buy it. |
| C．To show her satisfaction with Shein. |
| D．To show its cheapness. |
| A．High-quantity. | B．Expensive. |
| C．High-quality. | D．Original. |
| A．They get incredible products on sale. |
| B．They often buy much more than what they need. |
| C．They ignore the environmental impacts. |
| D．They are tricked into buying more and more reasonable products. |
| A．Environmental harm. | B．Price reduction. |
| C．Energy shortage. | D．Worldwide starvation. |
1. How did the woman get the cell phone?
| A．She bought it online. |
| B．Her father sent it to her. |
| C．She bought it downtown. |
| A．It takes some time for the thing you buy to arrive. |
| B．It is convenient and the things are often cheaper. |
| C．It is easy to choose an online shop with a good reputation. |
| A．Open an online account. |
| B．Log on to a shopping website. |
| C．Gain as much experience as possible. |
1. What type of business does the man have?
| A．Repairing. | B．Moving. | C．Painting. |
| A．Do the work immediately. | B．Visit the woman’s house. | C．Call the woman again. |
| A．By phone. | B．By letter. | C．By email. |
6 . Whether it’s a supermarket or a car commercial, many of the prices you experience are likely to have something in common. Prices are more likely to end in .99 more than any other pair of numbers — and certainly more than the even .00. We probably don’t think twice about buying something for $5.99 or $16.99, but it is a little strange when you think about it. Why aren’t prices just even dollar amounts? Is it a carefully organized marketing plan to get you to spend more?
Well, basically … yes. But there’s really nothing that is carefully planned about it. It’s actually pretty simple. “It’s a type of psychological (心理的) pricing,” says Julie Ramhold, a consumer (消费者) expert. “Because we read from left to right, we pay less attention to the end of the number versus the beginning.” This is especially effective if you’re just quickly reading several prices in a row. Therefore, the first number will definitely stand out to you more.
Of course, we still know that $9.99 is basically ten dollars, not nine dollars. But the $.99 trick takes advantage of the way our brains process prices. When we see a price of $9.99, we associate it as part of the $9-$9.99 range rather than the $10-$10.99 range. “Consumers don’t want to go beyond a certain type, so even a penny less may make a huge psychological difference,” explains Subimal Chatterjee, a successful and respected teaching professor of Marketing at Binghamton University School of Management.
This strategy is especially effective when it’s a change in the number of digits (数位). $99.99 is just inside the two-digits range, so it seems like a score … even though you basically are paying a hundred dollars. And, of course, the sellers are getting the most money they possibly could within that lower range, because 99 cents is only a cent below the higher range.
1. What does the first paragraph say about goods in stores?| A．They are of high quality. | B．They are available at a discount. |
| C．They tend to be priced at $.99. | D．They are always in great demand. |
| A．First come first serve. | B．Psychological pricing. |
| C．Small profits but quick returns. | D．Buy one and get one free. |
| A．The bag costs not more than $100. |
| B．The bag is sold at a reasonable price. |
| C．The price is a lucky number. |
| D．The price is within the four-digits range. |
| A．Sales Strategy Consumers Fail to Realize |
| B．Buying Habits Most Consumers Share |
| C．Promotion Plans Stores Have in Common |
| D．The Real Reason Most Prices End in .99 |
| A．The apple and pine candle. |
| B．The orange and walnut candle. |
| C．The chocolate and coffee candle. |
| A．Bananas. | B．Apples. | C．Pears. |
| A．A camera. | B．A computer. | C．A phone. |
| A．£30. | B．£35. | C．£40. |
