Reading comprehension (40 points)

Read the following four passages. Answer the questions below each passage by choosing A, B, C and D. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1.

Passage 1

What do consumers really want? That’s a question market researchers would love to answer. But since people don’t always say what they think, marketeers would need direct access to consumers’ thoughts to get the truth. Now, in a way, that is possible. At the “Mind of the Market” laboratory at Harvard Business School,

B. when
B. having disabledSection III
Directions:

researchers are looking inside shoppers’ skulls to develop more effective advertisements and marketing pitches. Using imaging techniques that measure blood flow to various parts of the brain, the Harvard team hopes to predict how consumers will react to particular products and to discover the most effective ways to present information. Stephen Kosslyn, a professor of psychology at Harvard, and business school professor Gerald Zaltman, oversee the lab. “The goal is not to manipulate people’s preferences,” says Kosslyn, “but to speak to their actual desires.” The group’s findings, though still preliminary, could radically change how firms develop and market new products. of this, Harvard researchers believe the scans can also predict future purchasing patterns. According to an npublished paper the group produced, “It is possible to use these techniques to predict not only whether people will remember and have specific emotional reactions to certain materials, but also whether they will be inclined to want those materials months later.” The Harvard group is now moving into the next stage of experiments. They will explore how people remember advertisements as part of an effort to predict how they will react to a product after having seen an ad. The researchers believe that once key areas of the brain are identified, scans on about two dozen volunteers will be enough to draw conclusions about the reactions of specific segments of the population.

43. Which of the following is true according to the text?
A. People will probably lie when they are questioned by the market researchers.
B. Stephen Kosslyn and Gerald Zaltman neglected the experiments and the study.
C. Harvard researchers have found the relation between people’s brain and behavior

The Harvard group use positron emission tomography (PET) ( 正电子发射X射线层析照相术) scans to monitor the brain activity. These PET scans, along with other non-invasive imaging techniques, enable researchers to see which parts of the brain are active during specific tasks (such as remembering a word). rrelations have been found between blood flow to specific areas and future behavior. Because Large corporations—including Coca Cola, Eastman Kodak, General Motors, and Hallmark—have already signed up to fund further investigations. For their financial support, these firms gain access to the experiments but cannot control them. If Kosslyn and Zaltman and their team can really read the mind of the market, then consumers may find it even harder to get those advertising jingles out of their heads.

41. Which of the following is the best title for this text?
A. Reading the Mind of the Market. B. Knowing the Consumers’ Preferences.
C. Improving the Styles of Advertising. D. Finding Out the Way to Predict Market.
42. Harvard researchers use scientific technology in the experiments because they

A. often don’t believe that the surveys done by the marketeers can reveal the truth.
D. Many big organizations withdrew fund for Harvard group’s further investigations.

44. Purchasing patterns are believed to be foreseeable because
A. PET scans are used to manipulate people’s preference.
B. PET scans are able to detect active parts of the brain.
C. people’s emotional reactions can be recalled easily.
D. people’s behavior interacts with blood circulation.

45. The last sentence of this text implies that
A. if the experiments’ results work well, customers may shop things according to the ads.
B. if the Harvard group succeeds, they will attract more consumers into the market.
C. corporations like Coca Cola, can employ the experiments in their own marketing.
D. consumers may discover that those ads will annoy them by causing headaches.