Question

No one knows for sure when advertising first started. It is possible that it grew out of the discovery that some people did certain kinds of work better than others did them. That led to the concept of specialization, which means that people would specialize, or focus, on doing one specific job.

Let’s take a man we’ll call Mr. Fielder, for example. He did everything connected with farming. He planted seeds, tended the fields, and harvested and sold his crops. At the same time, he did many other jobs on the farm. However, he didn’t make the bricks for his house, cut his trees into boards, make the plows (犁), or any of other hundreds of things a farm needs. Instead, he got them from people who specialized in doing each of those things.

Suppose there was another man we shall call Mr. Plowright. Using what he knew about farming and working with iron, Mr. Plowright invented a plow that made farming easier. Mr. Plowright did not really like farming himself and wanted to specialize in making really good plows. Perhaps, he thought, other farmers will trade what they grow for one of my plows.

How did Mr. Plowright let people know what he was doing? Why, he advertised, of course. First he opened a shop and then he put up a sign outside the shop to attract customers. That sign may have been no more than a plow carved into a piece of wood and a simple arrow pointing to the shop door. It was probably all the information people needed to find Mr. Plowright and his really good plows.

Many historians believe that the first outdoor signs were used about five thousand years ago. Even before most people could read, they understood such signs. Shopkeepers would carve into stone, clay, or wood symbols for the products they had for sale.

A medium, in advertising talk, is the way you communicate your message. You might say that the first medium used in advertising was signs with symbols. The second medium was audio, or sound, although that term is not used exactly in the way we use it today. Originally, just the human voice and maybe some kind of simple instrument, such as a bell, were used to get people’s attention.

A crier, in the historical sense, is not someone who weeps easily. It is someone, probably a man, with a voice loud enough to be heard over the other noises of a city. In ancient Egypt, shopkeepers might hire such a person to spread the news about their products. Often this earliest form of advertising involved a newly arrived ship loaded with goods. Perhaps the crier described the goods, explained where they came from, and praised their quality. His job was, in other words, not too different from a TV or radio commercial in today’s world.

1.What probably led to the start of advertisement?

A. The discovery of iron.

B. The specialization of labor.

C. The appearance of new jobs.

D. The development of farming techniques.

2.The writer makes up the two stories of Mr. Fielder and Mr. Plowright in order to __________.

A. explain the origin of advertising

B. predict the future of advertising

C. expose problems in advertising

D. provide suggestions for advertising

3.The last two paragraphs are mainly about __________.

A. the history of advertising

B. the benefits of advertising

C. the early forms of advertising

D. the basic design of advertising

Answer

1.B

2.A

3.C

【解析】

试题分析: 文章主要讲的是广告的起源。没有人确切地知道广告是什么时候开始出现的。广告可能起源于工作分工的出现。许多历史学家认为最早的户外广告出现在五千年之前。以前的广告形式主要是标志牌和声音等

1.B细节理解题。根据第一段最后“That led to the concept of specialization, which means that people would specialize, or focus, on doing one specific job”可知，广告是伴随着行业分工的出现而产生的，故选B

2.A推理判断题。根据“Let’s take a man we’ll call Mr. Fielder, for example. ...Suppose there was another man we shall call Mr. Plowright.”可知，Mr. Fielder喜欢种庄稼，而Mr. Plowright喜欢发明种田的工具，于是就出现了工作上的分工，根据第一段最后“which means that people would specialize, or focus, on doing one specific job”可知，作者是举例说明广告的起源，故选A

3.C段落大意题。根据“the first medium used in advertising was signs with symbols. The second medium was audio, or sound...A crier,...It is someone, probably a man, with a voice loud enough to...In ancient Egypt, shopkeepers might hire such a person...Often this earliest form of advertising”可知，最后两段讲的是以前的广告形式，故选C

考点 ：文化类阅读。