单选题 American capitalism could not bear a holiday devoted only to gratitude—a notoriously hard concept to monetise. So after Thanksgiving comes Black Friday—and the country shops. China"s Singles" Day(named for all the ones in the date, 11/11)was for romance. That did not set registers ringing, either. Alibaba charged into the breach a few years ago with a Singles" Day sale. The results make the Americans cramming into Walmart look like timid socialists. This Singles" Day, the total volume of merchandise bought through Alibaba was Rmb57. 1 bn($ 9. 3bn), blowing past last year"s $ 5. 9bn. Total US retail sales for the entire four-day Thanksgiving weekend of 2013, online and in stores, were roughly $ 57bn. Alibaba, a marketplace operator rather than a retailer, takes up to 5 per cent of each transaction—no discount on Alibaba"s merchant fees for Singles" Day, thank you. So the day"s discounts of at least 50 per cent compresses revenues, especially considering that before the big day some sales are put off(one merchant has said that in the two weeks before Singles" Day its online sales drop 80 per cent). Alibaba has not disclosed the revenues it makes from Singles" Day. The big winners, other than consumers might be the delivery companies. Given all this, and that Alibaba"s $ 300bn market capitalisation is about 50 times net income, profitability matters. Alibaba"s shareholders will have to wait for the next earnings report for clues to whether Singles" Day 2014 was an economic success as well as a promotional one. Cash flow, in particular, bears watching. Capital expenditures tripled in Alibaba"s latest reported quarter, to $ 550m, as the company spent money on data centres, land rights and construction. Cash flow after capital spending therefore grew much more slowly than profit(even putting aside the $ 775m Alibaba tent to its merchants in the quarter). Chinese consumers are proving their buying power and Alibaba is proving its selling power. Earnings power will determine whether investors keep clicking buy, buy, buy.

单选题 According to the writer, who might be the big winner of the Singles" Day?

A、 Retailers
B、 Delivery companies
C、 Consumers and delivery companies
D、 Retailers and Consumers

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】解析：推理判断题。由题干中的the big winner可定位至原文第三段。该段末尾的“The bigwinners，other than consumers might be the delivery companies．(除消费者以外，物流公司恐怕也是大赢家)”可知，光棍节的大赢家是消费者和物流公司。因此选c项。该段第一句提到Alibaba…takes up to 5 percent of each transaction…，即阿里巴巴会对每笔交易最高抽成达5％，即使光棍节商品打折，抽成也不会打折。而且一些一家商户就表示，光棍节前的那两周，其在线销售额下跌了80％，所以在作者看来，零售商并不是赢家，因此排除A、D项。

单选题 Why does the cash flow of Alibaba grow much more slowly than their profit?

A、 Because they spent money on data centres.
B、 Because they spent money on land rights.
C、 Because they spent money on construction.
D、 All the above.

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】解析：细节理解题。由题干中的the cash flow可定位至原文倒数第二段。由倒数第二段中的“…as the company spent money on data centres， land rights and construction． Cash flowafter capital spending therefore grew much more slowly than profit…”可知，由于投资于数据中心、土地使用权和各项建设，阿里巴巴三季度资本支出同比增加了两倍，达到5．5亿美元。因此，扣除资本支出后的现金流增长比利润增长慢得多。故本题应选D项。