There are many different kinds of peaches (桃). One clear difference is the one between clingstone一fruit in which the flesh is stuck to the seed inside—and freestone一that in which the seed floats freely. Customers prefer freestone peaches because they don’t want to struggle to get the flesh away from the seed.
And that’s how it goes in stone fruit land. Plant breeders (培育者) are trying all the time to improve the old favorites. Frequently, the changes are designed to meet the demands of the growers or packers. One very delicious family of peach varieties has nearly disappeared because it forms a small “beak”at the bottom of the fruit. That little point is likely to break during packing and shipping, o-pening the door to spoilage (腐烂).
This is certainly not to say that the wants of customers are not important. In fact, they drive some of the most important changes. One thing customers like is red—lots of red. Peaches used to be prized for golden skin; now people are buying red, regarding it as a sign of ripeness.
But red has a hold on people. There’s a story told by those in the stone fruit industry about a marketing experiment. A group of people were given two peaches:one a fairly tasteless red variety, the other a great-tasting gold. Sitting around, tasting and talking about the fruit, the group all agreed that the gold was a much better peach and that was the one they would buy. Then, on the way out the door, they were offered boxes of peaches as a thank-you gift. One held the preferred golden fruit, the other the red. To a person, they picked the red fruit to take home. Red sells.
1.What does the word“stone” mean in the text?
[A] The hard seed inside a fruit.
[B] Containers that packers use.
[C] Small rocks found in the fields.
[D] Soft beaks at the bottom of the fruit.
2.Why do plant breeders try hard to improve peaches?
[A] To get better shaped fruit.
[B] To meet the needs of growers.
[C] To make peaches taste better.
[D] To have a better chance for prizes.
3.Why do people like to buy red fruit?
[A] They believe it is ripe.
[B] It sells cheaper than gold.
[C] It is usually more delicious.
[D] They know it is an improved variety.
4.What can we learn about the peach-tasting group in the last paragraph?
[A] They were experts on marketing.
[B] They took home golden peaches.
[C] They agreed about the taste of peaches.
[D] They said they would buy the red peaches.
答案与解析：
1. 选A。该题属于推断题。stone的本意是“石头”，但结合本文关于桃子的描述，可以推断出它指的是桃子中间的部分，Brthe hard seed in-side a fruit”。
2. 选B。该题属于细节题。从文章第二段第二句“the changes are designed to meet the demands of the growers or packers”可得出答案。
3. 选A。该题属于细节题。从文章第三段最后一句“now people are buying red, regarding it as a sign of ripeness”可以得出答案。
4. 选C。该题属于细节题。此题可以用排除法解答，A选项中，他们并不是专家，而是被实验者，B、D选项不符合文中的表达，可排除。
