The first clue came when I got my hair cut. The stylist offered a complimentary nail-polish change while I waited for my hair to dry. Maybe she hoped this little amenity would slow the growing inclination of women to stretch each haircut to last four months.
Suddenly everything is on sale. The upside to the economic downturn is the immense incentive it gives retailers to treat you like a queen for a day. But now the customer rules, just for showing up. Finger the scarf, then start to walk away, and its price floats silkily downward. When the mechanic calls to tell you that brakes and a timing belt and other services will run close to $ 2,000,
it's time to break out the newly perfected art of the considered pause.
You really don't even have to say anything pitiful before he'll offer to knock a few hundred dollars off.
Restaurants are also caught in a fit of ardent hospitality, especially around Wall Street. New York Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni characterizes the new restaurant demeanor as "extreme solicitousness tinged with outright desperation."
Now everyone is hoping to restart the economy. But human nature is funny that way. In dangerous times, we clench and squint at the deal that looks too good to miss, suspecting that it must be too good to be true. Store owners will tell you horror stories about shoppers with attitude, who walk in demanding discounts and flaunt their new power at every turn. These store owners wince as they sense bad habit forming: Will people expect discounts forever? Will their hard-won brand luster be forever cheapened, especially for items whose allure depends on their being ridiculously priced?
There will surely come a day when things go back to "normal"; retail sales even inched up in January after sinking for the previous six months. Bargain-hunting can be addictive regardless of the state of the markets, and haggling is a low-risk, high-value contact sport. Trauma digs deep into habit, like my 85-year-old mother still calling her canned-goods cabinet "the bomb shelter." The children of the First Depression were saving string and preaching sacrifice long after the skies cleared. They came to be called the "greatest generation." As we learn to be decent stewards of our resources, who knows what might come of it? We have lived in an age of wanton waste, and there is value in practicing conservation that goes far beyond our own bottom line.
单选题
Why did the stylist treat the author so well when she got her hair cut?
单选题
By saying the underlined sentence in Paragraph 2, the author shows that customers_____.
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】解析：根据题干关键词定位到文章第二段。而联系上下文可知，这种停顿时的沉默就 是一种有效的还价手法，只是由于现在的不景气，所以连这些还价的流程都不需要了。从 You really don’t even have to say anything pitiful before he’ll offer to knock a few hundred dollars off可知，因为顾客现在是真的不需要玩这种还价艺术，商家就会主动提供折扣。所以 the newly perfected art of the considered pause即指顾客们(以前惯用的)最新的还价手法，因 此C项“顾客已经学会了如何还价”正确。A项“顾客购买打折的东西”、B项“顾客有一种 优越感”和D项“客户对服务有更高的要求”均不符合题意，故选C。
单选题
According to Paragraph 4, the phrase "flaunt their new power at every turn" means that consumers want to_____.
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】解析：根据题干关键词定位到文章第四段。该段指出，每一次在商家满足了顾客的还 价要求后，顾客又会提出进一步的降价要求，让一开始的就显得过分的折扣越来越大。因 此A项“获得更低的商品价格”符合文意。B项“表现他们的力量”只从字面上对“flaunt their new power”进行了解释，没有嵌入到语境中进一步说明。C项“炫耀他们的钱财”和D 项“有更多疑心”均不符合题意，故选A。
单选题
What can be inferred from the last two paragraphs?
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】解析：根据题干关键词定位到文章最后两段。通过最后一段末句there is value in practic ing conservation that goes far beyond our own bottom line可知，作者崇尚节俭，因此A项“厉 行节俭是很重要的”符合题意。此B项“奢侈的消费会加速经济的发展”、C项“一个人的生 活经历会转变成一生的习惯”和D项“消费者应该期待奢侈品降价”均不符合题意，故选 A。
单选题
Which of the following could be the best title of this passage?