Passage 2

Zhang Qiaoli uses her spare bedroom for storing her stock of ladies' fashion-wear and photo shoots. She is one of more than five million small online stores operating across China, some from small apartments or even college dormitories. She buys dresses and accessories wholesale, at prices under $5; using the website Taobao, she sells them on as the Kitty Lover range for about $10.

Taobao is owned by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba and the brainchild of founder Jack Ma. It is a free-to-use online marketplace with some 800 million product lines — from food to clothes to technology.

Across China, online companies large and small are learning how to be effective e-commerce players — or fail like US goliath eBay, which was trounced by upstart Taobao back in 2006.

In 2010, China's online shopping industry had a turnover of $80bn, and grew 87% year-on-year.

China's 420 million internet users spend around a billion hours each day online — and last year, 185 million made at least one online purchase. According to Boston Consulting Group, the volume is expected to increase fourfold by 2015.

E-commerce is changing the way Chinese consumers think about shopping: online, it is more social than a hard sell. It's a new engaging experience to savor.

In Chinese retail, trust is a rare commodity. There are plenty of fakes online, and buyers are often cursed by scams or shoddy goods. Still, consumer faith in e-commerce stores is remarkably robust. That's because, apart from its convenience, online shopping has shifted the balance of power from sellers to buyers. Online shopping in China is more than clicking on the "buy" button. The experience includes exchanging tips with other shoppers, discussing trends, and rating both products and service.

The interaction and communication generates trust.

"The ability of social networking combined with e-commerce or social commerce as I like to call it — where people are able to rate their providers, provide information to other purchasers — that level of experience is really overcoming the big weaknesses," says Duncan Clark, Chairman of BDA (China), an expert on China's e-commerce industry.

"Basically, there is a one-to-one connection being established. And that's breaking through the mistrust barrier if you will. So I think we can learn, actually — the West can learn from some of the developments happening in the Chinese e-commerce sector," says Mr Clark.

16. According to the article, how does Zhang Qiaoli make money?

A. She purchases goods at wholesale and sell them online at higher prices.

B. She sells dresses and accessories on Taobao.

C. She buys goods at higher prices and manages to sell large number of them.

D. She makes profits by selling dresses and accessories at retail stores.

17. The word "trounced" in paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to ______.

A. step B. defeat C. lose D. damage

18. According to paragraph 5, how many people is expected to make at least one online purchase in 2015?

A. 740 million. B. 555 million.

C. 370 million. D. 185 million.

19. Why is consumer faith in e-commerce still robust despite the prevalent fake goods online?

A. Because regulations about online shopping will be improved soon.

B. Because there are a lot more options online.

C. Because consumers are gaining more power thanks to online shopping.

D. Because there are still many qualified goods and trustworthy online stores.

20. What is the author's attitude towards e-commerce?

A. Paradoxical. B. Slightly critical.

C. Unbiased. D. Fully supportive.

Passage 2

16.【答案】A。解析：细节题。根据题干人名关键字可以定位到原文第一段。根据该段最后一句She buys dresses and accessories wholesale; using the website Taobao, she sells them on as the Kitty Lover range for about $10. 可以看出Zhang Qiaoli是通过低价批发高价卖出来赚钱的，所以可以选出答案为A。另外，结合第一段第二句可知她是做网店的，故D错误。题干问的是怎样赚钱，B项只是客观陈述她在淘宝上卖衣服和配饰，没有阐明她是通过低价买入高价卖出赚钱的。C选项说她以高价买入，与原文不符。故选A。

17.【答案】B。解析：词义猜测题。根据文章第三段online companies large and small are learning how to be effective e-commerce players — or fail like US goliath eBay 可知大大小小的网上商店都学着怎样成为更好的电子商务经营者——否则就会如同eBay这样的巨头一样失败，可以看出文章举例是强调eBay的失败，which之后是说明eBay是怎样失败的，它是在2006年被淘宝击败的，可以判断trounce是"打败"的意思。故选B. defeat。

18.【答案】A。解析：细节题。根据题干关键词2015可定位至文章第五段，根据该段第二句According to Boston Consulting Group, the volume is expected to increase fourfold by 2015. 可以看出到2015年会变成以前的四倍，结合上句中的185 million made at least one online purchase可知，2015年会进行至少一次网购的人数为：185*4=740 million，选择A项。

19.【答案】C。解析：细节题。根据题干可定位至原文第七段，根据该段第三、四句Still, consumer faith in e-commerce stores is remarkably robust. That's because, apart from its convenience, online shopping has shifted the balance of power from sellers to buyers. 可知在网上购物中，权力的天平从卖方转到了买方手中，通过That's because可看出和前句构成因果关系，经过比对，四个选项中，C即为同义句，故答案选C。

20.【答案】C。解析：态度题。纵观全文，文章通过淘宝网店的具体例子开篇，介绍了中国网上购物的迅猛发展和其给人们带来的一些变化，也说到了网上购物的一些弊端，比如有很多fakes，但同时也说出了网上购物改变了人类的生活方式，买方获得了更多的权力，网上的互动和交流产生了信任。由此可看出，文章没有太多个人的情感偏向，词语也使用较为客观，因此可以判断出作者的态度为unbiased无偏见的。