1 . Zong Qinghou, a soft drinks giant from Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, died of an illness at the age of 79. There has been much mourning at his passing on Feb. 25, 2024 as he was well-known as the founder of a company, headquartered in his hometown in the late 1980s, which later developed into the Wahaha Group, a major soft drinks company.
He is known to the public for three things — his rags-to-riches rise, his long-term frugal (节俭的) lifestyle, and his devotion to promoting China’s national industries. Forbes ranked him, with a wealth of about $5.9 billion, No.53 among Chinese billionaires last year.
Yet besides, it is also worthwhile to think over the question about whether his success in business can be imitated today and what lessons policymakers can learn from his self-made business success as they try to enrich the soil for setting up business.
Before winning a contract (合同) to work as a salesperson of a small school-run factory selling writing materials, iced treats and soft drinks in Hangzhou in 1987, Zong worked as a traveling salesman for nearly a decade after working for 15 years on various posts in local farming communities with Grade-9 education.
His sharp business sense, which he owed to poverty instead of the genes (基因) of the Zhejiang business community, enabled him to recognize business opportunities at a time when the country had just carried out the change from a planned economy to a socialist market one.
The broad space he enjoyed as a sales representative of the factory enabled him to continuously sharpen his sales strategies and enlarge his network of business partners. That not only helped him gather the start-up funds he later used to contract the whole factory, but also influenced his later management style, which he summed up as always trying to make things simpler.
As he told the media, it is the spirit of adventure of his generation and their down-to-earth work style that deserve attention, not his lifestyle, which was a personal choice.
1. Which aspect of Zong Qinghou does Paragraph 2 focus on?| A．His habits. | B．His interest. |
| C．His lifestyle. | D．His achievements. |
| A．To tell how he won contracts. | B．To tell how different his life was. |
| C．To show the ways to run a business. | D．To show its influence on his business. |
| A．His sharp sense in business. | B．His broad space and freedom. |
| C．His long-term simple lifestyle. | D．His business community’s genes. |
| A．Modest. | B．Determined. | C．Knowledgeable. | D．Humorous. |
1.表达哀思；
2.对娃哈哈集团的希望和建议。
condolences—慰问；吊唁
Dear Ms. Zong,
I’m Li Hua from Hangzhou Foreign Language High School.
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