Reebok executives do not like to hear their stylish athletic shoes called "footwear for yuppies(雅皮士，少壮高薪职业人士)". They contend that Reebok shoes appeal to diverse market segments, especially now that the company offers basketball and children's shoes for the under-18 set and walking shoes for older customers not interested in aerobics(健身操)or running. The executives also point out that through recent acquisitions they have added hiking boots, dress and casual shoes, and high-performance athletic footwear to their product lines, all of which should attract new and varied groups of customers.
Still, despite its emphasis on new markets, Reebok plans few changes in the upmarket(高档消费人群的)retailing network that helped push sales to $1 billion annually, ahead of all other sports shoe marketers. Reebok shoes, which are priced from $27 to $85, will continue to be sold only in better specialty, sporting goods, and department stores, in accordance with the company's view that consumers judge the quality of the brand by the quality of its distribution.
In the past few years, the Massachusetts-based company has imposed limits on the number of its distributors(and the number of shoes supplied to stores), partly out of necessity. At times the unexpected demand for Reeboks exceeded supply, and the company could barely keep up with orders from the dealers it already had. These fulfillment problems seem to be under control now, but the company is still selective about its distributors. At present, Reebok shoes are available in about five thousand retail stores in the United States.
Reebok has already anticipated that walking shoes will be the next fitness-related craze, replacing aerobics shoes the same way its brightly colored, soft leather exercise footwear replaced conventional running shoes. Through product diversification and careful market research, Reebok hopes to avoid the distribution problems Nike came across several years ago, when Nike misjudged the strength of the aerobics shoe craze and was forced to unload huge inventories of running shoes through discount stores.

单选题 One reason why Reebok's managerial personnel don't like their shoes to be called "footwear for yuppies" is that______.

A、 they believe that their shoes are popular with people of different age groups
B、 new production lines have been added to produce inexpensive shoes
C、 yuppies usually evokes a negative image
D、 the term makes people think of prohibitive prices

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】第1段提到“他们认为锐步鞋对各种各样的消费市场都有吸引力，尤其是现在，公司生产出了篮球鞋和适合18岁以下青少年穿的鞋子以及对健身操或跑步不感兴趣的老年人所穿的散步鞋”，故选A；B并不是直接原因，不是最佳选择；C和D均与文意相悖。

单选题 Reebok's view that "consumers judge the quality of the brand by the quality of its distribution"(Line 5, Para. 2)implies that _____.

A、 the quality of a brand is measured by the service quality of the store selling it
B、 the quality of a product determines the quality of its distributors
C、 the popularity of a brand is determined by the stores that sell it
D、 consumers believe that first-rate products are only sold by high-quality stores

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】第2段提到“锐步鞋的售价从27到85美元不等，将继续只会在高档次的专卖店、体育用品商店和百货公司出售，因为这种做法符合公司的观点，即消费者根据分销商的档次来判断品牌的质量”，D与此观点相符。文中的quality并不指服务质量，可排除A；B倒置因果关系；C与文中观点相悖。

单选题 Reebok once had to limit the number of its distributors, because _____.

A、 its supply of products fell short of demand
B、 too many distributors would cut into its profits
C、 the reduction of distributors could increase its share of the market
D、 it wanted to enhance consumer confidence in its products

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】第3段前两句提到“在过去几年中，马萨诸塞州分公司限制其分销商及其商店中鞋子的数量，部分原因是他们必须这样做。有时对锐步鞋的需求超过其供应，公司难以满足现有分销商的订单”，A正确；其余三项均与文意相悖。

单选题 Although the Reebok Company has solved the problem of fulfilling its orders, it_____.

A、 does not want to further expand its retailing network
B、 still limits the number of shoes supplied to stores
C、 is still particular about who sells its products
D、 still carefully chooses the manufacturers of its products

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】第3段倒数第2句提到“供不应求的问题似乎已得到控制，但公司仍然严格挑选分销商”，C与文中观点一致，为正确选硕。

单选题 What lesson has Reebok learned from Nike's distribution problems?

A、 A company should not sell its high quality shoes in discount stores.
B、 A company should not limit its distribution network.
C、 A company should do follow-up surveys of its products.
D、 A company should correctly evaluate the impact of a new craze on the market.

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】最后一段提到“通过产品多样化和详细的市场调查,锐步希望避免耐克几年前所遇到的分销问题。当时耐克公司错误地判断了健身操鞋的销售热，最后不得不通过折扣商店售出其数量庞大的存货”，由此可知D正确。