阅读理解 Passage Two Questions 51 to 55 are based on the following passage. Macy’s reported its sales plunged 5.2% in November and December at stores open more than a year, a disappointing holiday season performance that capped a difficult year for a department store chain facing wide-ranging challenges. Its flagship stores in major U.S. cities depend heavily on international tourist spending, which shrank at many retailers due to a strong dollar. Meanwhile, Macy’s has simply struggled to lure consumers who are more interested in spending on travel or dining out than on new clothes or accessories. The company blamed much of the poor performance in November and December on unseasonably warm weather. “About 80% of our company’s year-over-year declines in comparable sales can be attributed to shortfalls (短缺)in cold-weather goods,” said chief executive Terry Lundgren in a press release. This prompted the company to cut its forecasts for the full fourth quarter. However, it’s clear that Macy’s believes its troubles run deeper than a temporary aberration (偏 离)off the thermometer. The retail giant said the poor financial performance this year has pushed it to begin implementing $400 million in cost-cutting measures. The company pledged to cut 600 back-office positions, though some 150 workers in those roles would be reassigned to other jobs. It also pluns to offer “voluntary separation” packages to 165 senior executives. It will slash staffing at its fleet of 770 stores, a move affecting some 3,000 employees. The retailer also announced the locations of 36 stores it will close in early 2016. The company had previously announced the planned closures, but had not said which locations would be affected. None of the chain’s stores in the Washington metropolitan area are to be closed. Macy’s has been moving aggressively to try to remake itself for a new era of shopping. It has plans to open more locations of Macy’s Backstage, a newly-developed off-price concept which might help it better compete with ambitious T.J. Maxx. It’s also pushing ahead in 2016 with an expansion of Bluemercury, the beauty chain it bought last year. At a time when young beauty shoppers are often turning to Sephora or Ulta instead of department store beauty counters, Macy’s hopes Bluemercury will help strengthen its position in the category. One relative bright spot for Macy’s during the holiday season was the online channel, where rang up “double-digit” increases in sales and a 25% increase in the number of orders it filled. That relative strength would be consistent with what was seen in the wider retail industry during early part of the holiday season. While Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday all saw record spending online, in-store sales plunged over the holiday weekend. 注意:此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。
单选题 What does the author say about the shrinking spending of international tourists in the U.S.?
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】根据题干中的关键调shrinking, spending, international tourists 可定位至第一段的第二句,因此选A。
单选题 What does Macy’s believe about its problems?
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】本题定位于第二段的第一句,因此选B。
单选题 In order to cut costs, Macy’s decided to ________.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】根据题干中的关键词cut costs可定位于第三段的第二句至该段的最后一句,因此选D。
单选题 Why does Macy’s plan to expand Bluemercury in 2016?
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】根据题干中的关键词expand,Bluemercury, in 2016可定位至第五段的第三、四句,因此选D。
单选题 What can we learn about Macy’s during the holiday season?
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】根据题干中的关键词holiday season可定位至最后一段。因此选D。