单选题 .  SECTION A MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONS
    In this section there are three passages followed by fourteen multiple choice questions. For each multiple choice question, there are four suggested answers marked A, B, C and D. Choose the one that you think is the best answer and mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET TWO.
    PASSAGE ONE
    (1)After taking a brief hiatus to weather the recession, an invasion of Britain by some of America's best-known retail brands—including Best Buy, Banana Republic and Forever 21—is back on the march. And early reports from the front line in the land of shopkeepers indicate that, unlike with earlier attempts by U.S. retailers to break Britain, British consumers are welcoming the invaders with open arms—and wallets.
    (2)That's not always been the case. While the British public has long had an appetite for American fast-food vendors, the record of U.S. retailers who have tried to make it big in Britain is mixed. But the latest arrivals enter the market as already established brands with built-in consumer awareness, thanks to the dominance of U.S. culture in media and online. And they satisfy British shoppers' desire for "something new," says analyst Natalie Berg, of London-based consultants Planet Retail. "They all bring a cult aspect" to the U.K. high street.
    (3)Best Buy—America's largest consumer-electronics chain—kicked off the latest rush into the British market in May, when it opened its first-ever U.K. store. The 4,650-sq-m big-box outlet in the London suburb of Thurrock is the first of eight to 10 stores Best Buy expects to open in the country this year. And it has proved an impressive beachhead: in terms of sales volume, that first weekend was the chain's biggest opening weekend in its 27-year history. "We had strong expectations," says Paul Antoniadis, CEO of Best Buy UK (who won't reveal how much they took in over those first three days). "But the actual delivery was brilliant."
    (4)For some U.S. stores, this will be their first foray into the U.K. Following in Best Buy's footsteps is California-based Forever 21, which specializes in cheap, trendy clothes for young women and will open its first U.K. branch in Birmingham, northern England, in November. But for others, now is the time to expand on past success. Hollister, which is owned by Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F), has proved extremely popular in Britain since it launched its first surf-shack-chic store in London in 2008. Hollister rode the recession like it was the perfect wave. Despite the economic downturn, it opened 11 more stores across the U.K. over the past two years, most recently in April. As a result, A&F reports that average sales volume for Hollister's British stores is six times the level of its U.S. stores.
    (5)Meanwhile, Gap-owned Banana Republic, which debuted in London two years ago, opened its second and third stores in the city last December and April this year. Even in what was a tough year for retailers of all nationalities, Banana Republic's total U.K. net sales in last year hit $24 million, up from $23 million a year earlier.
    (6)What's the attraction? Britain boasts an overall retail market worth around $415 billion—a tempting target. The U.K. is also a good launchpad for further expansions into continental Europe. Moreover, thanks to growing online sales, U.S. retailers no longer have to blanket Blighty with shops to achieve full market penetration. They can open a few flagship stores in key cities, and back them up with a strong Web presence, which in turn reduces overheads and risk.
    (7)The Internet also provides a strong prelaunch marketing tool: Best Buy set up a U.K. website back in January that featured blogs, forums and advice, and used social-networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter to build anticipation for the Thurrock launch. And there's a new, postdownturn draw too: cheaper rents. U.K. retail rents have historically been sky high, particularly in London. Now many landlords-hit by a raft of vacancies-are willing to bargain.
    (8)While the invasion is off to strong start, U.S. retailers shouldn't consider Britain a sure thing. U.K. retailing is a highly mature market that's brutally competitive, particularly now as retailers battle to entice credit-crunched shoppers back into shops. "It's probably not a great time to enter the British market," says Sarah Peters, an analyst at British retailing consultants Verdict Research, "But I'm not sure if there is ever a good time." Indeed, Britain's retailing landscape is littered with the bones of successful U.S. retailers who stumbled badly when they crossed the Atlantic.
    (9)Limited Brands, in conjunction with British fashion chain Next, failed in an attempt in the 1990s to transplant Bath & Body Works to Britain. And Whole Foods Market, which opened a massive food emporium in London in 2007, lost around $52 million in the British capital last year, thanks in part to formidable competition from mainstream British supermarket chains that are already well stocked with organic groceries.
    (10)If this latest flock of U.S. retailers does well in the U.K., it will likely be because they offer British shoppers something completely different. Forever 21, for example, will face resistance from established, strong domestic clothing brands, including Topshop, New Look and Primark. But Best Buy, on the other hand, has an edge. Not only are its big-box stores a novelty in Britain, but so is the brand's emphasis on customer service. Its Geek Squad unit gives customers round-the-clock technical support, and shoppers can use its in-store setup service to configure gadgets before taking them home. "Consumer-electronics stores in the U.K. traditionally have not had good reputations for customer service," says Matthew Piner, another Verdict Research analyst. "And no one has really challenged them before."
    (11)To pay for its U.K. invasion, Best Buy, which was pummeled by the recession, has already shelled out around $30.5 million and expects to spend around another $50 million to $58 million this fiscal year. That's a big bet. But for Best Buy, and many other U.S. retailers, the potential payoff for succeeding in Britain means it's one worth making.
    PASSAGE TWO
    (1)It was said by Sir George Bernard Shaw that "England and America are two countries separated by the same language." My first personal experience of this was when I worked as a camp counselor for two months in 1993 in Summer Camp run by the Boy Scouts of America, as part of an international leader exchange scheme. Before I went, all the participants in the scheme were given a short list of words that are in common use in the UK which Americans would either be confused by or would even offend them. I memorized the words and thought "I'll cope".
    (2)When I finally arrived in the States three months later, I realized that perhaps a lifetime of watching American television was not adequate preparation for appreciating and coping with the differences between American and British speech. In the first hour of arriving at the camp I was exposed to High School American English, Black American English and American English spoken by Joe Public, all very different to each other. Needless to say, I did cope in the end. The Americans I met were very welcoming and helpful, and I found they were patient with me when I made a social faux pas when I used an inappropriate word or phrase.
    (3)Upon my return I began to wonder whether anyone had documented the differences between American and British English. I found several books on the subject but often these were written in a dry and academic way. I felt that I could do better and use my sense of humor and personal experiences to help people from both sides of Atlantic to communicate more effectively when they meet.
    (4)My research into the subject led me to several conclusions.
    (5)Firstly, American English and British English are converging thanks to increased transatlantic travel and the media. The movement of slang words is mostly eastwards, though a few words from the UK have been adopted by the Ivy League fraternities. This convergent trend is a recent one dating from the emergence of Hollywood as the predominant film making center in the world and also from the Second World War when large numbers of American GIs were stationed in the UK. This trend was consolidated by the advent of television. Before then, it was thought that American English and British English would diverge as the two languages evolved and absorbed words brought to their respective countries by immigrants and their colonies.
    (6)In 1789, Noah Webster, in whose name American dictionaries are still published in to this day, stated that: "Numerous local causes, such as a new country, new associations of people, new combinations of ideas in the arts and some intercourse with tribes wholly unknown in Europe will introduce new words into the American tongue." He was right, but his next statement has since been proved to be incorrect. "These causes will produce in the course of time a language in North America as different from the future language of England as the modern Dutch, Danish and Swedish are from the German or from one another."
    (7)Webster had underrated the amount of social intercourse between England and her former colony. Even before Webster had started to compile his dictionary, words and expressions from the America had already infiltrated the British language, for example "canoe" and "hatchet". Very few people in Britain realise how many of the words they use are of American origin. Often this importation of American words has encountered a linguistic snobbery by the British, which was a manifestation of the cultural snobbery that bedevilled Anglo-American relationships for a long time. This is not, thankfully, the case now.
    (8)Secondly, there are some generalizations that can be made about American and British English which can reveal the nature of the two nations and their peoples. British speech tends to be less general, and directed more, in nuances of meaning, at a sub group of the population. This can become a kind of code, in which few words are spoken because each, along with its attendant murmurings and pauses, carries a wealth of shared assumptions and attitudes. In other words, the British are preoccupied with their social status within society and speak and act accordingly to fit into the social class they aspire to. This is particularly evident when talking to someone from "the middle class" when he points out that he is "upper middle class" rather than "middle class" or "lower middle class". John Major (the former UK Prime Minister) may have said that we are now living in a "classless society" but the class system still prevails. At that moment both he and the Leader of the Opposition were talking about capturing the "middle England", "middle class vote" as the key to winning the next general election.
    (9)American speech tends to be influenced by the over-heated language of much of the media, which is designed to attach an impression of exciting activity to passive, if sometimes insignificant events. Yet, curiously, really violent activity and life-changing events are hidden in blind antiseptic tones that serve to disguise the reality. Two examples come readily to mind—the US Military with their "friendly fire" and "collateral damages" and the business world with their "downsizing". British people tend to understatement whereas Americans towards hyperbole. A Briton might respond to a suggestion with a word such as "Terrific!" only if he is expressing rapturous enthusiasm, whereas an American might use the word merely to signify polite assent.
    (10)Thirdly, The American language has less regard than the British for grammatical form, and will happily bulldoze its way across distinctions rather than steer a path between them. American English will casually use one form of a word for another, for example turning nouns into verbs or verbs and nouns into adjectives. In Britain, a disrespect for grammatical rules, particularly amongst the middle classes, would immediately reveal you to be "not one of us". Listening to listener feedback programmes on Radio 4 (one of the radio stations run by BBC) would reveal this. People actually write into complain about grammatical mistakes made by news presenters!
    PASSAGE THREE
    (1)Silicon Valley is a magnet to which numerous talented engineers, scientists and entrepreneurs from overseas flock in search of fame, fast money and to participate in a technological revolution whose impact on mankind will surely surpass the epoch-making European Renaissance and Industrial Revolution of the bygone age.
    (2)With the rapid spread of the Internet since the early '90s, and the relentless technological innovations generated through it, the information era is truly upon us, profoundly influencing and changing not only our lifestyle, but also the way we work, do business, think and communicate with others. The unprecedented success of the Valley is a testimony to the concerted international endeavours and contributions by people from diverse cultural and racial backgrounds, made possible by the favourable political, economic and intellectual climate prevailing, as well as the farsighted policies of the US government.
    (3)It is noteworthy that close to 50% of its skilled manpower, including engineers, scientists and entrepreneurs, come from Asia. Prominent among them are Indians and Chinese, and not a few Singaporeans. They include such illustrious names as Vinod Khosla who co-founded Sun Microsystems, Jerry Yang of Yahoo fame and Singaporean Sim Wong Hoo, to name a few.
    (4)Many countries have, or are in the process of creating, their own "Silicon Valley". So far, none has as yet threatened the preeminence of the US prototype. What makes Silicon Valley such a unique entity? There are several crucial factors.
    (5)First and foremost, it has the largest concentration of brilliant computer professionals and the best supporting services in the world, and easy access to world-class research institutions, like Stanford University, which continually nurtures would-be geniuses that the industry needs in order to move forward. Without these advantages, the Valley would be a different place.
    (6)Secondly, it actively encourages, or even exalts, risk-taking. Hence, failure holds no terror and there is no stigma attached to a failed effort. On the contrary, they will try even harder next time round. Such never-say-die approach is the sine qua non for the ultimate triumph in entrepreneurship and technological breakthrough.
    (7)A third decisive factor is the vital role of venture capitalists who willingly support promising start-ups with urgently needed initial capital to get them started. Some would even give failed entrepreneurs a second chance if convinced that a fresh concept might lead to eventual success.
    (8)Of equal importance, many bright young people and middle level professionals are keen to work for a new venture at substantially reduced remuneration, as it offers more scope for entrepreneurship and job satisfaction than the established companies. There is also a pride of achievement if their efforts contribute to its fruition.
    (9)Intellectual challenges aside, it is a common practice for start-ups to offer generous share options to employees in order to attract the right talent into their folds. This is a powerful incentive to motivate the staff to do their utmost and to share in the company's prosperity if it reaches its goal. Many regard this as the foundation of a successful enterprise. Those that have become high fliers, such as Netscape, Intel, Cisco and Yahoo, have turned many of their employees, including support staff like secretaries, into dot.com millionaires overnight, often at the relatively young age of 20s or 30s.
    (10)The Valley's professionals are among the most hardworking people anywhere. A 15-hour day and 7-day week is not uncommon, especially during the start-up stage. They would give up social life, and curtail their family life too, in order to pursue the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. It is this single minded pursuit of excellence, supported by strong ethos of team work and esprit de corps, which sustain them until their mission is accomplished.
    (11)Paper qualifications, though useful, is not a be all and end all. More weight is given to a candidate's proven abilities and aptitude for the job. This is amply demonstrated by industry icons like Apple's Jobs and Wozniak and Microsoft's Gates, all college dropouts who might not have emerged in a qualification-conscious community.
    (12)While racial prejudice no doubt still exists in the United States, albeit in a less degrading form as before, it is hardly discernible in the Valley. What counts most is one's vision and track record, and not one's nationality, skin colour or creed. This, together with its multiracial society, informal lifestyle and agree-able climate, lure foreigners to its shores.
    (13)Its phenomenal success has led to a worldwide fever to proliferate dot.com companies, both as a prestigious symbol and a quicker way to wealth. Singapore is part of this rising tide. In consequence, many bright young people have given up their secure jobs to join in the race. But the reality is that, because of its high-risk nature, for every success story there are hundreds who will, perforce, fall by the wayside. Will they get a second chance, given their own operating environment?
    (14)However, with the collapse of the US NASDAQ share index earlier this year resulting in the plunge in prices of technology shares listed on it and elsewhere, the hitherto valuable share options held by numerous paper dot.com millionaires have become virtually worthless in these changed circumstances. Those who could not take the heat, as it were, left their employment feeling disillusioned. Be that as it may, the majority in the Valley view this traumatic experience only as a temporary setback for the industry. They are sanguine that its longer term prospects remain bright as the ultimate potential of the information age has not yet run its full course. They are confident that it will flourish well into this century provided it maintains its cutting-edge in science and technology.1.  According to the reports, the U.S. retailers won the popularity among British consumers because ______.(PASSAGE ONE)