In 1998 consumers could purchase virtually anything over the Internet. Books，

　　compact discs，and even stocks were available from World Wide Web sites that seemed to spring

　　up almost daily. A few years earlier，some people had predicted that consumers accustomed to

　　shopping in stores would be reluctant to buy things that they could not see or touch in person. For a

　　growing number of time-starved consumers，however，shopping from their home computer was

　　proving to be a convenient alternative to driving to the store.

　　A research estimated that in 1998 US consumers would purchase $ 7.3 billion of goods over

　　the Internet，double the 1997 total. Finding a bargain was getting easier owing to the rise of online

　　auctions and Web sites that did comparison shopping on the Internet for the best deal.

　　For all the consumer interest，retailing in cyberspace was still a largely unprofitable business，

　　however. Internet pioneer Amazon.Com，which began selling books in 1995 and later branched

　　into recorded music and videos，posted revenue of $ 153.7 million in the third quarter，up from

　　$ 37.9 million in the same period of 1997. Overall，however，the company’s loss widened to

　　$ 45.2 million from $ 9.6 million，and analysis did not expect the company to turn a profit until

　　2001. Despite the great loss，Amazon.Com had a stock market value of many billion，reflecting

　　investors’ optimism about the future of the industry.

　　Internet retailing appealed to investors because it provided an efficient means for reaching

　　millions of consumers without having the cost of operating conventional stores with their armies of

　　salespeople. Selling online carried its own risks，however. With so many companies competing for

　　consumers’ attention，price competition was intense and profit margins thin or nonexistent. One

　　video retailer sold the hit movie Titanic for $ 9.99，undercutting(削價)the $ 19.99 suggested retail

　　price and losing about $ 6 on each copy sold. With Internet retailing still in its initial stage，companies seemed willing to absorb such losses in an attempt to establish a dominant market

　　position.

　　46. Which of the following is TRUE，according to the writer?

　　A. Consumers are reluctant to buy things on the Internet.

　　B. Consumers are too busy to buy things on the Internet.

　　C. Internet retailing is a profitable business.

　　D. More and more consumers prefer Internet shopping.

　　47. Finding a bargain on the Internet was getting easier partly because .

　　A. there were more and more Internet users

　　B. there were more and more online auctions

　　C. the consumers had more money to spend

　　D. there were more goods available on the Internet

　　48. “For all the consumer interest”(Paragraph 3)means .

　　A. to the interest of all the consumers

　　B. for the interest of all the consumers

　　C. though consumers are very much interested

　　D. all the consumers are much interested

　　49. It can be inferred from the passage that Amazon. Com .

　　A. will probably make a profit in 2001

　　B. is making a profit now

　　C. is a company that sells books only

　　D. suffers a great loss on the stock market

　　50. Investors are interested in Internet retailing because .

　　A. selling online involves little risk

　　B. Internet retailing is in its initial stage

　　C. it can easily reach millions of consumers

　　D. they can make huge profits from it

　　答案解析：

　　1998年，消費者實際上可以通過因特網(wǎng)購買任何東西。書、壓縮光盤甚至股票都可以從萬維網(wǎng)的網(wǎng)站上購買，這些網(wǎng)站似乎每天都在增加。幾年前，有些人就預(yù)測：習(xí)慣了在商場購物的消費者對于這種他們不能親自看到或接觸到的購買方式會猶豫。然而，對越來越多的缺少時間的消費者來說，與開車到商場購物相比，在家通過電腦購物是個方便的選擇。