Understanding the TextChoose the best answer for each of the following questions as cording to the text.Bargains1. Let’s take the orthodox definition of the word bargain. It is something offered at a lowand advantageous price. It is an opportunity to buy something at a lower price than it is really worth. A more recent definition is: a bargain is a dirty trick to extort money from the pockets of silly and innocent people.2. I have never attended a large company’s board meeting in my life, but I feel certain that discussion often takes the following lines. The cost of producing a new - for example-toothpaste would make 80p the decent price for it, so we will market it at £1.20. It is not a bad toothpaste (not specially good either, but not bad), and as people like to try new things it will sell well to start with;but the attraction of novelty soon fades, so sales will fall. When that starts to happen we will reduce the price to £1.15. And we will rush to buy it even though it still costs forty-three percent more than its fair price.3. Sometimes it is not 5p OFF but 1p OFF. What breathtaking impertinence to advertise 1p OFF your soap or washing powder or dog food or whatever. Even the poorest old-age pensioner ought to regard this as an insult, but he doesn’t. A bargain must not be missed. To be offered a”gift”of one penny is like being invited to dinner and offered one single pea (tastily cooked), and nothing else. Even if it represented a real reduction it would be an insult. Still,people say, one has to have washing powder (or whatever) and one might as well buy it a penny cheaper. When I was a boy in Hungary a man was accused of murdering someone for the sake of one penny, the 5lequivalent of a shilling, and pleaded guilty. The judge was outraged, “To kill a man for a shilling!... What can you say in your defense?" The murderer replied:“A shilling here... a shilling there...”And that’s what today’s shopper says,too:“A penny here... a penny there...”4. The real danger starts when utterly unnecessary things become "bargains.”There is a huge number who just cannot resist bargains and sales. Provided they think they are getting a bargain they will buy clothes they will never wear, furniture they have no space for. Old ladies will buy roller-skates and nonsmokers will buy pipe-cleaners. And I once heard of a man who bought an electric circular saw as a bargain and cut off two of his fingers the next day. But he had no regrets: the saw had been truly cheap.5. Quite a few people actually believe that they make money on such bargains. A lady I know, otherwise a charming and seemingly sane girl, sometimes tells me stories such as this:“I’ve had a lucky day today. I bought a dress for £120，reduction from £400；I bought a suitcase for £40, reduced from £120 and I bought a beautiful Persian carpet for £600,reduced from £900.”Perhaps she may add vaguely that she has been a trifle extravagant, but it will never occur to her that she actually wasted £760. She feels as though she has made £600. She also feels, I am sure, that if she had more time for shopping, she could make a living out of it.6. Some people buy in bulk because it is cheaper. At certain moments New Zealand lamb chops may be 3p cheaper if you buy half a ton of them, so people rush to buy a freezer just to find out later that it is too small to hold half a ton of New Zealand lamb. I once knew a couple who could not resist buying sugar in bulk. They thought it a tremendous” bargain, not to be missed, so they bought enough sugar for their lifetime and the lifetime of their children and grandchildren. When the sugar arrived they didn’t know where to store it — until they realized that their loo was a very spacious one. So that was where they piled up their sugar.Not only did their guests feel rather strange whenever they were offered sugar to put into their coffee, but the loo became extremely sticky.7. To offer bargains is a commercial trick to make the poor poorer. When greedy fools fall for this trick, it serves them right. All the same,if bargains were prohibited by law our standard of living would immediately rise by 7.39 per cent.Choose the best answer for each of the following questions according to the text.2. The word “discussion” in the 2 line of Para.2 refer to( )
A、A. bargain
B、B. argument
C、C. negotiation
D、D. compromise
【正确答案】：B
【题目解析】：P240
