We might like to think we're not influenced by other people, but a new study into the group-buying mechanisms（机制） - like those used on coupon（优惠券） sites such as Groupon and LivingSocial - reveals that telling buyers who come later to the offer how many have already signed up increases the number of purchasers.
Researchers at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management wanted to understand why group buying sites that have entered the market recently have enjoyed greater success than those operating a decade ago, such as Mercata and MobShop.
Earlier attempts typically left potential buyers waiting for days before confirming whether or not they had got the offer they had signed up for.
“We think one of the reasons group-buying has been successful recently is because of the short time horizon,” says Rotman Professor Ming Hu, who co-wrote the study with Professor Mengze Shi and PhD student Jiahua Wu. “It allows for a herding effect.”
Another reason is the use of an information structure that discloses to later arrivals how many have already signed onto the deal.
Researchers looked at two ways of designing the purchasing mechanism for a group buy:a simultaneous mechanism, where no one knows how many buyers have come before them, and asequential（连续的） mechanism, where a second group of buyers has the advantage of knowing the size of the first group.
The researchers' analytical（分析的） model shows the most successful mechanism is the sequential one because it eliminates uncertainty for those coming later to the deal, and improves the confidence of those who sign on early, as they're able to track the numbers of those who come after them.
“That boosts confidence,” says Professor Hu, who teaches operations management. Deals for "luxury" services, versus everyday items, work better in a group buy scenario（方案） because they offer consumers a greater benefit.
1.It can be learned from the text that ______.
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A．the short time horizon is the reason why group-buying has been successful. |
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B．a simultaneous mechanism is where a group of buyers has the advantage of knowing how many people have signed up. |
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C．a sequential mechanism allows a herding effect which boosts the confidence of the buyers. |
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D．researchers at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management carried out an experiment about why group buying sites entered the market successfully, such as Mercata and MobShop. |
2.The underlined word “eliminates” in paragraph 7 probably means“______”.
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A．to become or to make something greater in amount, number, value |
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B．to remove or get rid of something |
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C．to deliberately not include something in what you are doing or considering |
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D．to make something known to somebody |
3.What can be the best title for the passage?
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A．Secret for marketing success – boosting confidence. |
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B．Secret for group-buying mechanism—herding effect. |
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C．Comparison between a simultaneous mechanism and a sequential mechanism. |
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D．What others do influences our decisions. |
Mobile phones are an important business tool for farmers in rural areas. But they also put a valuable educational tool in their hands.
The University of Illinois in the United States has a project called SAWBO—Scientific Animations Without Borders. It produces educational videos that can be downloaded to cell phones. The goal is to help people in developing countries improve their lives.
One video shows farmers how to make a natural insecticide from neem seeds to prevent insect damage to crops. The process starts with sorting and drying the neem fruits. Then let the fruit dry in the sun for about three or four days, until they become brown. Using a mortar(碾槌) and stick, the fruits are slightly pounded to remove the shells from the fruits without breaking the seed inside.
The videos use computer animation(动画). Some of the animated characters are a little funny looking-like a farmer with a long nose. But the subjects are serious, including a health video on preventing cholera(霍乱). Team member Francisco Seufferheld says the information in the videos is meant to be quickly understood. He says, “The information is digested in such a way that in two minutes, we can transmit a complex idea.”
The researchers tested the seven-minute video on seven mobile phones. They wanted to see if people would share the video using Bluetooth wireless technology. With Bluetooth, files can be passed to a nearby phone even if neither phone is connected to the Internet. As a result, in one month, the video had spread to one hundred eighteen people in fifty different villages. “This is just incredible impact,” said Francisco Seufferheld.
The team has made a few videos so far. These are available in a total of eighty languages, dialects and accents. Professor Barry Pittendrigh says there are plans for more videos later this year.
1.What is the text mainly about?
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A．A best-selling mobile phone |
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B．A valuable educational project for farmers |
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C．United States support for developing countries |
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D．A new type of scientist –farmer relationship |
2.The SAWBO program is introduced in order to ____.
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A．raise farmers’ standard of living |
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B．do some research on mobile phones |
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C．develop farmers’ practical skills |
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D．help farmers prevent insect damage to corps |
3.The biggest advantage of the program is that it______.
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A．includes health video on preventing cholera |
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B．can be passed to farmers using Bluetooth technology |
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C．can be used to sort and dry the neem fruits |
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D．is easy for farmers to understand |
4.Which of the following words can best take the place of the word “ pound” in the 3rd paragraph?
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A．moved |
B．beat |
C．picked |
D．cut |
They may be small and not able to speak, but babies are proving their amazing cleverness. Scientists began finding infants’ skills are more than they are supposed to be.
_________
Speaking of music, babies can’t seem to resist it. Not only are their ears turned to the beats, babies can actually dance to the music.
To test babies’ dancing ability, the researchers played recordings of classical music, rhythmic beats and speech to infants, and recorded the results. They also invited professional dancers to analyze how well the babies matched their movements to the music. The babies moved their arms, hands, legs feet and heads in response to the music, much more than to the speech. The finding suggests this dancing ability is innate(与生俱来的) in humans, though the researchers aren’t sure why it becomes weaker later in their life.
Learning Quickly while Sleeping
Babies can learn even while asleep, according to a 2011 study. In experiments with 26 sleeping infants, each just 1 to 2 days old, scientists played a musical tone followed by a puff of air to their eyes 200 times over the course of a half-hour. 124 electrodes(电极) stuck on the head and face of each baby recorded brain activity during the experiments. The babies rapidly learned to foretell a puff of air upon hearing the tone, showing a four-time increase on average in the chances of tightening their eyelids in response to the sound by the end of the experiments.
As newborns spend most of their time asleep, this newfound ability might be crucial to rapidly adapting to the world around them and help to ensure their survival, researchers said.
Judging Characters Well
Judging another person helpful or harmful is crucial when choosing friends. And that ability starts early. Kiley Hamlin of Yale University showed both 6-and 10-month-olds a puppet(木偶) show, in which one character helped another climb a hill. In another scene a third character pushed the climber down. The little ones then got to choose which character they preferred. For both age groups, most babies chose the helper character. This character-judging ability could be baby’s first step in the formation of morals, Hamlin thought.
1.Which of the following subtitles can fill in the underlined blank?
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A．Dancing to Music |
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B．Babies’ Amazing Abilities |
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C．Learning to Dance Quickly |
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D．Born to Dance |
2.The underlined word “it” in the third paragraph refers to______.
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A．the finding |
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B．the dancing ability |
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C．the response |
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D．the baby |
3.The experiment with 26 sleeping infants prove that_______.
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A．babies can learn even while asleep |
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B．babies can respond to the world around them |
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C．babies can tighten their eyelids in response to the sound |
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D．babies can communicate with others while asleep |
4.In the last experiment, most babies chose the helper character, showing that________.
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A．babies can judge a person helpful or harmful |
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B．babies love to see a puppet show |
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C．babies were born to help others |
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D．babes have learned to help others |
Joey is loyal, encouraging and self-sacrificing, always putting others’ interests ahead of his own. He is a hard worker, who also loves to run and play. In short, he’s an ideal friend and a heroic character.
Here is the thing: Joey is a horse, who appears as the main character in Steven Spielberg’s new film War Horse.
It is based on Michael Morpurgo’s 1982 novel, which also caused the same-titled Tony Awards winning play.
The film follows the saga of Joey, a racehorse that’s trained for farm work under the loving care of Albert (Jeremy Irvine )after Albert’s drunk father Ted(Peter Mullan ) overpays for the animal at auction(拍卖会).
Then the World War I tears Albert and Joey apart. Joey is sold into the war effort for the British and starts his episodic adventures in Europe.
Splendidly staged, the battle plots in the film are visually astounding and impressive.
And with Spielberg’s unique, top-notch direction and storytelling skills, War Horse cannot escape its episodic nature, calling to mind another Spielberg film about the horrors of war and its effects upon soldiers and civilians—Saving Private Ryan.
While that film shocked with horrific scenes of bleeding, it relied on a company of easily-described characters and a focused storyline to present heroic themes.
Like Saving Private Ryan, War Horse clings to a series of characters, not only Albert, but also British officers, French civilians and German soldiers, who display courage in the face of danger. Everyone who comes in contact with Joey is either already in touch with their inner angel or is quickly moved to become more humane.
Although none of this covers the fact that we’ve seen this stuff elsewhere before, the lovely sentiment will steal your heart.
And the emotional signature of Spielberg can be felt as he establishes the relationship between the boy and the horse and the mood of the piece – there will be tears.
Therefore, calling this beautiful, dramatically incomplete film “ Saving Private Joey”, is entirely justifiable.
1.In common with “ Saving Private Ryan”, the film War Horse _________ .
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A．is full of terrifying scenes of bleeding and killing |
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B．received the title of Tony Awards Winning Play |
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C．covers a lot of characters |
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D．tells the story happening in the Second World War |
2.Which statement is true according to the passage?
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A．War Horse is based on the same-titled novel by Steven Spielberg. |
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B．Joey is a heroic character because he saved many people’s lives. |
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C．Albert sold Joey into the war effort for Europe. |
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D．Joey came to Albert’s care after Ted paid a lot of money for it. |
3.According to the passage, what does the underlined word astounding mean?
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A．astonishing |
B．confusing |
C．satisfying |
D．disappointing |
4.What is the best title for the passage?
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A．Joey ─ a heroic race horse |
B．Albert and Joey |
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C．Saving Private Joey |
D．Spielberg’s Joey |
根据短文内容，从下框的选项中选出能概括每一段主题的最佳选项，并在答题纸上将该选项涂黑，选项中有一项为多余选项。
A. Using a proverb to tell us how to keep healthy
B. Getting up early --- one good way to keep healthy
C. The importance of sleeping
D. Introduction to keeping healthy
E. The importance of the blood in our bodies
F. The benefit of exercise
1.__________
Habit is something we do very often. We do not think when we are doing it. We can have good habits or bad habits. This text gives some advice on how to be healthy. It tells you what to do if you want to be healthy. It also tells you what you must not do. It talks about good habits and bad habits.
2._________
Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise. This is an old English saying. Have you heard of it before? It means that we must go to bed early and get up early in the morning. if we do, we shall be healthy, we shall also be rich and clever.
3.________
Is this true? Perhaps it is. The body must have enough sleep .Children of your age need ten hours’ sleep every night. If you do not go to bed early, you can not have enough sleep. Then you can not think properly and you cannot do your work properly. You’ll not be wise and you may not become wealthy!
4.________
Some people go to bed late at night and get up late in the morning. This is not good for them. We must sleep at night when it is dark. The dark helps us to sleep properly. When daylight comes, we must get up. This is the time for exercise. Exercise means doing things with the body. Walking, running, jumping, swimming, playing games are all exercises. If the body is not used, it becomes weak. Exercise keeps it strong.
5.________
Exercise helps the blood to move around inside the body. This is very important. Blood takes food to all parts of our bodies. The brain in our heads also need blood. We think with our brains. If we keep our bodies healthy and take exercise, we can think well.
One day, while a woodcutter was cutting a branch of a tree above a river. When he began crying, God appeared and asked him, "Why are you crying?"
The woodcutter told him that he had dropped his axe into water. God went down into the water and reappeared with a golden axe.
"Is this your axe?" God asked.
The woodcutter said "No."
God again went down and came up with a silver axe." Is this your axe?" God asked.
The woodcutter said "No."
God again went down and came up with a iron axe." Is this your axe?" God asked.
The woodcutter said "Yes."
God was pleased with the man's honesty and gave him all the three axes.
The woodcutter went home happily. One day while he was walking with his wife along the river, his wife fell into the river. W hen he began crying, God appeared and asked him, "Why are you crying?"
"My wife has fallen into water."
God went down into the water and came up with Jennifer Lopez.
"Is this your wife?" God asked him.
"Yes." he said.
God was furious(狂怒的),"YOU CHEAT !Now I am going to curse you."
The woodcutter quickly said, “Forgive me my lord. It is a misunderstanding. IF I say 'No' to Jennifer Lopez, you will come up with Catherine Zeta Jones, If I also say 'No' to her, you will finally come up
With my wife and I will say, 'Yes.' Then you will give all the three to me .I am a poor man .I will not be able to look after all the three. So that's why I've to say 'Yes' "
1.Which of the following best describes the author's tone in telling the story?
A. Optimistic B. Humoristic C. Objective D. Critical
2.The impression that the woodcutter makes on you is that he is -----
A. foolish but honest B. foolish and honest
C. smart but honest D. smart and honest
3.What can you infer about Jennifer Lopez and Catherine Zeta Jones?
A. They are the secret lovers of the woodcutter
B. They look much like the woodcutter's wife.
C. They are both rich women with a lot of gold and silver.
D. They are both popular with women, much worthy than his wife
