单选题 It is said that the public and Congressional concern about deceptive packaging rumpus started because Senator Hart discovered that the boxes of cereals consumed by him, Mrs. Hart, and their children were becoming higher and narrower, with a decline of net weight from 12 to 10.5 ounces, without any reduction in price. There were still twelve biscuits, but they had been reduced in size. Later, the Senator rightly complained of a store-bought pie in a handsomely illustrated box that pictured, in a single slice, almost as many cherries as there were in the whole pie.
The manufacturer who increases the unit price of his product by changing his package size to lower the quantity of delivered can, without undue hardship, put his product into boxes, bags, and tins that will contain even 8-ounce, one-pound, two-pound quantities of breakfast foods, cake mixes, etc. A- study of drugstore and supermarket shelves will convince any observer that all possible sizes and shapes of boxes, jars, bottles, and tins are in use at the same time and, as the package journals show, week by week, there is never any hesitation in introducing a new size and shape of box or bottle when it aids in product differentiation. The producers of packaged products argue strongly against changing sizes of packages to contain even weights and volumes, but no one in the trade comments unfavorably on the huge costs incurred by endless changes of package sizes, materials, shapes, art works, and net weights that are used for improving a product's market position.
When a packaging expert explained that he was able to multiply the price of hard sweets by 2.5, from 1 dollar to 2.50 dollars by changing to a fancy jar, or that he had made a 5-ounce bottle look as though it held 8 ounces, he was in effect telling the public that packaging can be a very expensive luxury. It evidently does come high. When an average family pays about 200 dollars a year for bottles, cans, boxes, jars and other containers, most of which can't be used any more but stuffing the garbage can.

单选题 What started the public and Congressional concern about deceptive packaging rumpus?
A. Consumers' complaints about the changes in the package size.
B. Expensive packaging for poor quality products.
C. A senator's discovery of the tricks in packaging.
D. The rise in the unit price for many products.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】[解析] 题干实际就是文章首句的前半部分,答案的依据就在后半部分 (because…)。后半部分表明他们买的食品的包装盒变高了、变窄了,食品的分量也减少了,但是价格并没有降低,这实际上是一个trick,选项C正确。选项A、 B、D都是trick的表现形式,均不全面,而且这个trick是Senator Hart发现的。
单选题 The word "undue" in the second paragraph means ______.
A. improper B. adequate
C. unexpected D. excessive
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] 本题需要在理解全篇的基础上猜出undue的意思。 “改变包装大小或样式带来的麻烦”不用improper“不适当的”、adequate“适当的,足够的”或unexpected“突如其来的,没有想到的”来修饰。只有D项“过多的,过分的”符合题意。
单选题 Consumers are concerned about the changes in the package size, mainly because ______.
A. they hate to see any changes in things they are familiar with
B. the unit price for a product often rises as a result
C. they have to pay for the cost of changing package sizes
D. this entails an increase in the cost of packaging
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】[解析] 本题问消费者关注包装大小改变的主要原因是什么,需要理解全篇内容才能作答。文章第一段开宗明义,说到参议员Hart一家购买的包装商品分量少了,但价格未减;第二段一开始就提到一些生产厂家用改变包装式样的办法提高商品单价。由此可知,消费者首先关注的是商品包装的改变带来的商品单价的提高,即选项B所说的内容。选项A文中未提及;选项C、D意思相似,但公众关注的直接原因是价格升高,而非成本问题。
单选题 According to this passage, various types of packaging come into existence to ______.
A. meet the needs of consumers
B. suit all kinds of products
C. enhance the market position of products
D. introduce new products
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】[解析] 本题问为何会出现形形色色的包装。第二段末作者说许多包装商品的生产商不断改变包装的大小、用料、形状、制作工艺以及商品本身的重量, 目的是为了提高商品所占的市场份额,与选项C吻合。选项A、B、D也都是包装的目的和作用,但不是最本质、最主要的。
单选题 The author is critical mainly of ______.
A. dishonest packaging B. inferior packaging
C. the changes in package size D. exaggerated illustrations on packages
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】[解析] 本题问及作者批判的主要方面是什么。文章一开始就点明了主旨 concern about deceptive packaging,dishonest与deceptive同义,选项A正确。选项B“粗制滥造的包装”文中未提及;选项C“不断变化的包装大小”和D“包装上夸大其词的图案”都是在论证deceptive packaging时列举的实例,不能概括全文。