【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】Question 9: What is the speaker mainly talking about?
【解析】题目问说话者主要说了什么。听力材料一开始就提到“America’s holiday shopping season starts on Black Friday... It is the busiest shopping day of the year”，因此，不难推断出该篇听力的主题是关于holiday shopping，因此本题选B。
America' s holiday shopping season starts on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving.
It is the busiest shopping day of the year.
Retailers make the most money this time of year, about 20 to 30 percent of annual revenue.
About 136 million people will shop during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
More and more will shop online.
In an era of instant information, shoppers can use their mobile phones to find deals.
About 183.8 million people will shop on Cyber Monday, the first Monday after Thanksgiving.
More than half of all holiday purchases will be made online.
One in five Americans will use a tablet or smartphone.
Online spending on black Friday will rise 15 percent to hit 2.7 billion dollars this year.
Cyber Monday spending will increase 12 percent to 3 billion dollars.
For many, shopping online was "a more comfortable alternative" than crowded malls.
The shift to online shopping has had a big impact on traditional shopping malls.
Since 2010, more than 24 shopping malls have closed and an additional 60 are struggling.
However, Fortune says weakest of the malls have closed. The sector is thriving again.
The international Council of Shopping Centers said 94.2 percent of malls were full, or occupied with shops by the end of 2014.
That is the highest level in 27 years.
Economist, Gus Faucher, said lower unemployment and rising wages could give Americans more money to spend.
The average American consumer will spend about 805 dollars on gifts.
That's about 630.5 billion dollars between November and December, an increase of 3.7 percent from last year.
Questions 9 to 12 are based on the passage you have just heard.