2013年12月大学英语四级考试阅读训练15

　　The appeal of advertising to buying motives can have both negative and posive effects. Consumers may be convinced to buy a product of poor quality or high price because of an advertisement. For example, some advertisers have appealed to people's desire for better fuel economy for their cars by advertising automotive products that improve gasoline mileage. Some of the products work. Others are worthless ad a waste of consumers' money.

　　Sometimes advertising is intentionally misleading. A few years ago a brand of bread was offered to dieters (节食者) with the message that there were fewer calories (热量单位,大卡) in every slice. It turned out that the bread was not dietetic (适合于节食的), but just regular bread. There were fewer calories because it was sliced very thin, but there were the same number of calories in every loaf.

　　On the positive side, emotional appeals may respond to a consumer's real concerns. Consider fire insurance. Fire insurance may be sold by appealing to fear of loss. But fear of loss is the real reason for fire insurance. The security of knowing that property is protected by insurance makes the purchase of fire insurance a worthwhile investment for most people. If consumers consider the quality of the insurance plans as well as the message in the ads, they will benefit from the advertising.

　　Each consumer must evaluate her or his own situation. Are the benefits of the product important enough to justify buying it? Advertising is intended to appeal to consumers, but it does not force them to buy the product. Consumers still control the final buying decision.

　　这是一篇议论文，其要论述的观点是：广告具有正、反两方面的影响。

　　31. Advertising can persuade the consumer to buy worthless products by ______-.

　　A) maintaining a balance between quality and price

　　B) convincing him of their low price

　　C) appealing to his buying motives D) stressing their high quality

　　[答案与分析]:[C]答题依据为文章第1段前两句话。文章中没有A项的意思，况且凭常识就可排除A、B、D两项都C项的内容，包含于C项。C项较B、D而言是全面的。

　　32. The reason why the bread advertisement is misleading is that _______.

　　A) the total number of calories in the loaf remained the same

　　B) thin slices of bread could contain more calories

　　C) the loaf was cut into regular slices D) the bread was not genuine bread

　　[答案与分析]:[A]其他三项显然与文章的陈述恰好相反，不符合事实。

　　33. The passage tells us that ________.

　　A) advertisements occasionally force consumers into buying things they don't need

　　B) the buying motives of consumers are controlled by advertisements

　　C) sometimes advertisements really sell what the consumer needs

　　D) fire insurance is seldom a worthwhile investment

　　[答案与分析]:[C]文章第1段说，根据广告买的东西，“some of the products work”;第3段举例说明广告的积极作用(positive side);emotional appeals may respond to a consumer's real concerns.以上两点都是选择C项的依据。至A、B、D三项，都很容易看出它们与文章内容相左。

　　34. It can be inferred from the passage that a smart consumer should _______.

　　A) be familiar with various advertising strategies

　　B) think carefully about the benefits described in the advertisements

　　C) guard against the deceiving nature of advertisements

　　D) avoid buying products that have strong emotional appeal

　　[答案与分析]:[B]在论述了广告的正、负两方面的影响后，作者在第4段写道：“每个消费者都应该根据自己的情况做出分析、判断(Each consumer must evaluate her or his own situation)。”这正是B项的意思。

　　35. The passage is mainly about ______.

　　A) ways to protect the interests of the consumer

　　B) how to make a wise buying decision

　　C) the function of advertisements in promoting sales

　　D) the positive and negative aspects of advertising

　　[答案与分析]:[D]这是一道主旨题。本文开宗明义：广告具有积极、消极两方面的影响。而且可以看出，整篇文章都在证明这一观点。