1 . Fifteen years ago, apps were new and few truly understood their potentials. Retailers (零售商) barely knew that consumers could browse in stores while comparing _________ from other providers through apps before _________ making the purchase online. Ten years ago brick-mortar-and (实体店) retailers were threatened as Amazon released an “evil” promotion that encouraged consumers to use Price Check app while visiting _________ stores. Any purchase completed through the app was given rewarding _________, which significantly stimulated sales and _________ many shop owners to bankruptcy (破产).

“Media have reported these apps as a threat to physical stores,” says a retailer. “However, less _________ is the fact that it is also an opportunity for us.” Retailers need to accept any sensible buyer tends to _________ prices. You’d better offer in-store Internet access to _________ these consumers. With caring services combined with acceptable prices, the store might persuade consumers to make the deal _________.

A study indicates it’s ____________ to limit the item price to at most 5 dollars higher than what online stores charge. After all, for some consumers, getting the absolute lowest price is not their ____________. Many of them, instead, are willing to pay ____________ in exchange for favorable shopping experiences, such as the pleasant store atmosphere with a reasonable price ____________.

Besides, adopting a strategy of ____________ channels is also essential. With many sale channels under control, retailers surely have access to the lowest price. Therefore, when a customer pulls out a mobile device in store, retailers can be spared the ____________ that was unavoidable for them ten years ago.

2 . When I re-entered the full-time workforce a few years ago after a decade of lonely self-employment, there was one thing I was looking forward to the most: the opportunity to have work friends once again. It wasn't until I entered the corporate world that I realized, for me at least, being friends with colleagues didn't emerge as a（n） ________ at all. This is surprising when you consider the prevailing emphasis by scholars and trainers and managers on the importance of cultivating close ________ relationships at work. So much research has explored the way in which collegial（同事的）ties can help overcome a range of workplace issues ________ productivity and the quality of work output such as team-based conflict, jealousy, undermining, anger, and more.

Perhaps my expectations of lunches, water-cooler gossip and caring, deep-and-meaningful conversations were a ________ of the last time I was in that kind of office environment. Whereas now, as I near the end of my fourth decade, I realize work can be fully functional and entirely fulfilling without ________ to be best mates with the people sitting next to you.

In an academic analysis just published in the profoundly-respected Journal of Management, researchers have looked at the concept of “indifferent relationships", a simple term that summarizes the fact that relationships at work can ________ be non-interpersonal, inconsequential, unimportant and even, dare I say it, disposable or substitutable.

Indifferent relationships are neither positive nor negative. The limited research conducted thus far indicates they're especially ________ among those who value independence over cooperation, and harmony over confrontation. Indifference is also the ________ option among those who are socially lazy. Maintaining relationships over the long term takes effort, which, for some of us, is much too________.

As noted above, indifferent relationships may not always be the most ________ approach in resolving some of the issues that pop up at work. But there are nevertheless several apparently proven benefits. One of those is ________ . Less time chatting and socializing means more time working and churning（产出）.

The other is ________ . As human beings, we're programmed to compare ourselves to each other in what is an anxiety-causing phenomenon. Apparently, we look down on acquaintances（泛泛之交）more so than friends. Since the former is most common among those ________ to indifferent relationships, their predominance can promote individuals' sense of self-worth.

Ego aside, a third advantage is that the emotional ________of indifferent relationships has been found to enhance critical evaluation, to strengthen one's focus on task resolution, and to gain greater access to valuable information. None of that might be as ________ as after-work socializing but, hey, I'll take it anyway.

3 . Several years ago, Jeremy Clarkson, presenter of BBC television programme discovered one of his guests was half German and half Irish. Immediately, he said, “That’s quite a strange ______ . It’s like, this must be done absolutely perfectly...tomorrow”.

This joke played on ______ of the Germans as efficient and the Irish as lazy. Many people could ______ be offended by these kinds of assertions. We do not know every Irish person, so how can we conclude that every Irish person is lazy?

I recently read on a website that Irish business people were ______ as being “generally rather casual” and more outwardly friendly than many European counties’. German business people, on the other hand, are considered very ______ and they do not need a personal relationship in order to do business. Once you hear advice like this, it becomes easier to understand where jokes like the one in the first paragraph come from.

So why do some people ______ of the kind of stereotypes as seen in Clarkson’s joke, but not batting an ______ when it comes to generalizations. What is the difference between the two?

By definition, a stereotype is a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing. A cultural characteristic, on the other hand, is a pattern of behaviour that is ______ of a certain group.

So what does this really mean? Stereotype are simply overstated assumptions about groups of people. Imagine if a tourist visited a small town in Switzerland and saw a number of locals playing the alphorn instrument, and then ______ that Swiss people can play the alphorn. This would be a stereotype! This is an ______ image of the Swiss which is based on one tourist’s experience.

If however, this tourist were to say that the Swiss are very punctual, this could be seen as a cultural ______ . This is because it is a pattern of behaviour which is very typical in Switzerland: from their transport system to their business meetings in this way, some people argue that generalizing another culture is not just useful, but important. Politicians always have to be ______ of the cultural characteristics of different countries. By becoming aware of different cultural characteristics, they can avoid causing offence in those cultures.

______ , others argue that generalizing cultures will always lead to offensive stereotypes. They argue that the best thing we can do is to stop generalizing cultures and start treating people as ______ .

All this raises important questions: Can making generalizations about groups of people be a ______ thing? Or should we always avoid making broad assumptions about different groups?

6 . Have you seen people who take pictures of food for more than 10 minutes before eating? How about those who beautify their selfie (自拍照片) so much that they can’t be _______?There must be one or more who _______ in your social media. No matter what they choose to share, they share the best but the most unreal.

Take my friend Chen. Every time we went to a restaurant, she would not take a _______ until all the dishes we _______ were on the table. Then, she would spend five minutes in setting the dishes in a seemingly random but in fact _______ order. Then the most important part: taking pictures. After that, she would choose one of the _______ and click in the filter (滤镜) app. The food eventually looked 10 times more delicious than it really was, but we had no _______ to really enjoy it—it all went cold. Actually Chen’s real life is much less elegant. For example, she hates to wash the dishes, so she leaves them in the sink for _______.

Many people care too much about others’ opinions and try too hard to _______ others. They find it hard to be ________ and to accept themselves, and thus they are afraid to show their real life on social media. What they are trying to prove is ________ what they lack in reality. But this will not bring any change to reality, as they still ________ the same old pattern of life.

If they really want an elegant life, they should put more ________ into achieving it. Being more confident, ________ themselves and trying their best to be better is much more meaningful than ________ their life on social media.

9 . Do video games have a negative effect on our children? Today, our children spend more and more time online.

For many people, video games are fun and _________. They have funny cartoons and exciting stories. Everywhere you look, you can see children playing these games. They play on buses and trains, in restaurants and _________ at school. Video games also make you think in a creative way and use your _________. This can improve the way that a child’s brain works. Besides, video games are also a good way to teach children about _________. They can learn about computers and how they work.

However, a recent study suggests that video games can be _________ for children. Firstly, children can download many online games for free. They don’t need money, so they don’t need to _________ their parents. This _________ that their parents often don’t know what they are _________. Children could be playing games that are violent or scary. Furthermore, many children spend too much time playing games on the computer. This can lead to _________ problems—children who spend too much time on the computer can become overweight. However, if children spend too long on the computer __________ doing their homework, they can have problems at school and they can get bad grades. Video games can also __________ children’s social skills. Playing and working with friends is very __________ for children. It teaches them how to talk to other people. __________ children spend too much time playing by themselves online, they don’t learn how to play with their friends.

In conclusion, it seems clear that video games have some advantages and some disadvantages. On the one hand, they are fun and have many educational __________ for children. On the other hand, they can _________ problems with children’s health and social skills.

10 . Society has the responsibility of improving the quality of life of disabled people. You can judge a society by the way it _________ and cares for its disabled population. Disabled people are not _________ of their families nor of the society they belong to. In fact, many of them are able to _________ their own careers and do very well in their own fields. How many great men of all ages who suffered some forms of disability but reached the top of their _________ and helped shape the lives of governments and peoples!

Since we have reached a certain standard of existence, it is the moral responsibility of the society to meet the special needs of these people. All of us will _________ this stage in our human existence-that is, being a disabled man. If now you are physically _________, with no physical impairment, time will come when you will grow old, and you’ll need that special attention. Because of discoveries of new medicines and better methods of health care, a great part of the population of the world can live longer. You may be a part of it in the near future. So, a great many will _________ difficulties if alleys and passages, buildings and structures and means of transportation are “not” suited to a disabled-friendly environment.

Society’s government must be able to _________ ramps(人造斜坡) in buildings or structures, or a barrier-free environment. The blind or the visually-impaired must also have _________ to computers with Braille(盲文)system. The deaf-mute need ____________, or if not, their co-employees must be able to do ____________ language and special children must be given ____________ care and education.

____________, only those advanced countries can provide these ____________, and those disabled people who are living in poor countries have to stay at home, and have to bear with many barriers, living in a(n)____________ environment.