The story behind the shopping cart
Characters
Sylvan Goldman – owner of a grocery shop
Fred Young – Sylvan’s friend, a mechanic(机械师)
One night in 1936, in an American city. Inside Fred’s workshop, Sylvan sits next to Fred, who is making adjustments(调试) to their new i? 1. – a shopping cart.
Sylvan:????????????? My customers don’t like our shopping cart.
Fred:????????????? Really? So they p? 2. shopping with those heavy baskets?
Sylvan:????????????? (nods) I’ve got a huge crowd of customers every day, b 3. none of them wants to use the cart.
Fred:????????????? I don’t understand. We invented the cart so that people don’t need to carry a basket around the shop.
Sylvan:????????????? (laughs) And so that they will buy more groceries!
Fred:????????????? So why don’t they like the shopping cart?
Sylvan:????????????? Young men think that pushing a cart around makes them look w 4. and slow, and young women think it’s unfashionable.
Fred:????????????? Of course it isn’t fashionable right now. It’s only just been invented! But I’m sure older people will appreciate it.
Sylvan:????????????? Um…
Fred:????????????? What? They don’t like the cart e? 5.? ?
Sylvan:????????????? Well, they think pushing it makes them look helpless!
Fred:????????????? Oh no. We need to do something, Fred. We can’t just g? 6. up on this invention!
Sylvan:????????????? We won’t. (He gets up and walks around the room. Suddenly, he stops.) Aha! I’ve got an idea.
Fred:????????????? What is it?
Sylvan:????????????? I’ll hire(雇佣) some good-looking guys and girls to push the carts around and pretend they’re shopping.
Fred:????????????? Oh! So the real shoppers will see these attractive people using the carts and think, “Hey, if it’s good enough for them, it’s good enough for me!”
Sylvan:????????????? E 7. .
Fred:????????????? Hey! Maybe you could get one of the girls to greet your customers and encourage them to use the cart.
Sylvan:????????????? Great idea!
1.invention
2.prefer
3.but
4.weak
5.either
6.give
7.Exactly
【解析】
试题分析：这篇短文讲述的是在购物车刚被发明出来的时候，人们并喜欢用它，所以购物车的发明人Fred和Sylvan就在讨论怎样才能让人们喜欢上它。最后他们有了一个好主意。
1.句意：1936年的一个晚上，在美国的一个城市里，Fred和他的朋友Sylvan正在调试他们的新发明—购物车。invention 发名物，是一个名词。这篇短文讲述的就是购物车的由来，所以，在那个时候，购物车是一个新的发明物。下文It’s only just been invented这句话也可以告诉我们答案。
2.句意：-我的顾客不喜欢我们的购物车。-真的吗？他们更喜欢拿着重的购物篮去购物吗？prefer 更喜欢。这里是表示购物车与购物篮的一个对比。
3.句意：我每天有很多顾客，但是很少有人愿意使用这个购物车。根据句意可知，这里表示的是转折的关系。故填but。
4.句意：年轻的男性认为推着购物车到处走让他们看起来很脆弱，而且很慢；而年轻的女性则认为购物车不够时尚。这里的look 是看起来的意思，后面应跟一个形容词，根据句意可知，年轻男性不喜欢购物车的愿意就是他们觉得这样会使他们看起来很脆弱，不强壮。
5.句意：-我确定老年人会喜欢它的。什么？他们也不喜欢购物车？either 也，常用于否定句中。
6.句意：我们不能放弃这项发明。根据文意可知，他们发明的购物车并不受人们的欢迎，但是这里Fred不愿意就这样放弃。give up 放弃，是固定短语。
7.句意：-所以真正的顾客会看到这些吸引人的人们在使用这种购物车，然后就会想：如果对他们来说使用购物车很好的话，对我也会好的。-就是这样。exactly 精确的，正确的，就是这样。这里表示Sylvan完全同意Fred的话，认为他说的很对。
考点：任务型阅读。
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