单选题 The Southdale shopping centre in Minnesota has an atrium, a food court, fountains and acres of parking. Its shops include a Dairy Queen, a Victoria's Secret and a purveyor of comic T-shirts. It may not seem like a landmark, as important to architectural history as the Louvre or New York's Woolworth Building. But it is. "oh, my god!" chimes a group of teenage girls, on learning that they are standing in the world's first true shopping mall. "That is the coolest thing anybody has said to us all day. "
In the past half century Southdale and its many imitators have transformed shopping habits, urban economies and teenage speech. America now has some 1,100 enclosed shopping malls, according to the International Council of Shopping Centres. Clones have appeared from Chennai to Martinique. Yet the mall's story is far from triumphal. Invented by a European socialist who hated cars and came to deride his own creation, it has a murky future. While malls continue to multiply outside America, they are gradually dying in the country that pioneered them.
Southdale's creator arrived in America as a refugee from Nazi-occupied Vienna. Victor Gruen was a Jewish bohemian who began to design shops for fellow immigrants in New York after failing in cabaret theatre. His work was admired partly for its uncluttered, modernist look, which seemed revolutionary in 1930s America. But Gruen's secret was the way he used arcades and eye-level display cases to lure customers into stores almost against their will. As a critic complained, his shops were like mousetraps. A few years later the same would be said of his shopping malls.
By the 1940s department stores were already moving to the suburbs. Some had begun to build adjacent strips of shops, which they filled with boutiques in an attempt to re-create urban shopping districts. In 1947 a shopping centre opened in Los Angeles featuring two department stores, a cluster of small shops and a large car park. It was, in effect, an outdoor shopping mall. Fine for balmy southern California, perhaps, but not for Minnesota's harsh climate. Commissioned to build a shopping centre at Southdale in 1956, Gruen threw a roof over the structure and installed an air-conditioning system to keep the temperature at 75°F (24℃)—which a contemporary press release called "Eternal Spring". The mall was born.
Gruen got an extraordinary number of things right first time. He built a sloping road around the perimeter of the mall, so that half of the shoppers entered on the ground floor and half on the first floor-something that became a standard feature of malls. Southdale's balconies were low, so that shoppers could see the shops on the floor above or below them. The car park had animal signs to help shoppers remember the way back to their vehicles. It was as though Orville and Wilbur Wright had not just discovered powered flight but had built a plane with tray tables and a duty-free service.

单选题 According to the text, which of the following is TRUE?
[A] Southdale will be closed soon.
[B] Shopping malls are flourishing all over the world.
[C] After long time of prosperity, shopping malls in US is gradually declining.
[D] Shopping mall is an American creation.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】A项Southdale很快会关闭，文中并未提及，故错误。B项购物中心在全世界流行，请注意文中这一句“While malls continue to multiply outside America，they are gradually dying in the country that pioneered them”，可以看出在美国并非如此，故B错误。C项说美国的购物中心正在衰落，这与前面那一句话对应，故正确。D项说购物中心是美国人发明的，注意文中这一句“Invented by a European socialist”，故D错误。

单选题 Which of the following is not the impact that shopping malls exert on daily life in US?
[A] People's shopping habits have been largely transformed.
[B] Urban economy has been boosted and thus operated on large scale.
[C] A new pop culture has been fostered by shopping malls.
[D] Shopping malls completely replaced traditional groceries and alike.

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】本题关键在于“In the past half century Southdale and its many imitators have transformed shopping habits，urban economies and teenage speech”这一句，再结合选项，A是购物习惯，B是城市经济，C是年轻人口头禅，分别与句子对应，而D是说完全取代了之前的杂货店，文中并未提及，故答案为D。

单选题 Why did critics complain that Gruen's "shops were like mousetraps"?
[A] Gruen designed his shops in a way capable of luring customers in.
[B] Gruen designed his shops with an appearance of mousetrap.
[C] Gruen's shops were famous for the mousetraps they sold.
[D] Gruen's shops sold things much more expensive than that of other ones.

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】关键点在于这一句“But Gruen's secret was the way he used arcades and eye-level display cases to lure customers into stores almost against their will”，通过多个拱廊和平视展示柜引诱消费者进店，可以看出选项中A项最为契合。B项说外形像老鼠夹，C项说卖老鼠夹而出名，D项说卖的东西比别家贵，这在文中都没有相关的对应语句。

单选题 Which of the following is not the extraordinary thing Gruen got for the first time?
[A] Sloping road around the perimeter of the mall.
[B] Free shipping services.
[C] Low balconies of the shops.
[D] Animal signs in car park.

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】A项对应文中“He built a sloping road around the perimeter of the mall”(他在购物商场的四周围建了一条坡路)，B项在文中没有对应，C项对应“Southdale's balconies were low”，D项对应“The Car park had animal signs”，故选择B项。

单选题 What does the author mean by mentioning Wright brothers in the end?
[A] Shopping malls came into existence earlier than planes did.
[B] Owing to Gruen's various novelties shopping malls got rapid development.
[C] Gruen has absorbed some inspirations from Wright brothers.
[D] Wright brothers like shopping malls very much.

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】A项，飞机出现于20世纪初，而购物中心出现于50年代，故A项错误。B项可根据“It was as though Orville and Wilbur Wright had not just discovered powered flight but had built a plane with tray tables and a duty-free service”这一句判断，说购物中心的设计很人性化。C项和D项文中没有提及，故不选。