Question

Allow me to introduce you to Terry, a window salesman from England. If I could take you back about 20 years, you’d know Terry as a complete green hand, who was wet behind the ears in just about everything he attempted. A person couldn’t sell false teeth to his own Granny, let alone he could compete with the other salespeople in the industry. You know, the kind who could sell snow to Eskimos.

Terry’s boss decided to send him out on a practical field trip on his first day. So off he went, but he was extremely nervous. With his hands and his knees shaking, he approached the front door and knocked at is. And old woman appeared. After dozens of cups of tea and pieces of biscuits, the woman signed a contract and purchased over $7,000 worth of windows.

The woman had already talked with 6 excellent salesmen that week, all of whom offered her cheaper ones! That’s right---Terry’s price was the most expensive and he was also the most inexperienced salesman there ever was.

So, what happened then? Here comes the secret. The woman said she liked the young lad more than the others. That’s all there was to it. She didn’t care about the extra expense. Even the other salesmen couldn’t persuade her to pay less than this young lad was asking for.

The truth is that the young lad left on the woman the first impression that shone brighter than any of the salesman’s talk. First impressions count, not the sales techniques, not the low prices. The actual “personality” the kid honestly gave was all that was required. If you market your own products and services, consider what impression you are giving to others. If you appeal to them, then you’ve already done half of the work. If this means redesigning your presentation, then so be it. If this means going out of your way to be polite, helpful and giving the best possible shopping experience to your customers, the so be it.

1.When Terry was offered the job of salesman, he         .

A. was good at sales techniques

B. was too young to do it

C. was believed in by his boss

D. knew little about sales skills

2.The underlined sentence in Paragraph 1 suggests that         .

A. Terry couldn’t trade with Eskimos

B. Terry loved his Granny more

C. Terry was too honest to do the job

D. Terry was afraid to compete

3.What made the young lad succeed in selling the window to the old woman?

A. Being honest and childish.

B. First impression of good personality.

C. High quality and expensive window.

D. Strange ways of sales.

4.The passage is most likely written to         .

A. new salesmen

B. general readers

C. window makers

D. new graduates

Answer

1.D

2.C

3.B

4.A

【解析】

试题分析: 本文讲述一个做销售的新手，在没有任何的销售技能前提下靠坦诚的性格赢得顾客。

1.】D细节理解题。根据第一段“If I could take you back about 20 years, you’d know Terry as a complete green hand”以及第二段中的“he was extremely nervous. With his hands and his knees shaking”可看出Terry得到销售工作时，是一个新手，对销售技能不太了解。故选D。

2.】C 句意猜测题。根据本句意思“一个不能把假东西买给他奶奶的人，更不用说和其他的销售员竞争”,说明Terry做这个工作太诚实了。所以选C。

3.B 细节理解题。根据最后一段“First impressions count, not the sales techniques, not the low prices. The actual “personality” the kid honestly gave was all that was required.”可推断使得这个年轻人成功卖掉玻璃的关键是他给老太太的第一印象，以及他诚实的品质。故选B。

4.根据文章最后一段“If this means redesigning your presentation, then so be it. If this means going out of your way to be polite, helpful and giving the best possible shopping experience to your customers, the so be it.。”可看出文章主要写给新的销售员。故选A。

考点：考查故事类短文阅读。