The recession is taking a serious toll on American retail, but e-commerce could emerge as a winner. According to a new report by Forrester Research, e-commerce sales are (67) . to grow 11% , to $ 156 billion, in 2009. That (68) a slowdown from 13% growth last year and 18% in 2007. The major factor (69) to the pace shift is, of course, (70) consumer confidence. But e-commerce’s slowed pace is, still (71) better than the National Retail Federation’s (72) 0.5% drop in overall retail sales this year. That means e-commerce is stealing market share from (73) retail -- and fast. By Forrester’s estimates, in 2008 e-commerce (74) for 5% of all retail sales. In 2012, Forrester thinks ecommerce could have an 8% (75) . One recent factor is that online shopping promises bargains to price-sensitive consumers. ’The recession is definitely (76) more consumers to do their homework (77) they go and complete a purchase, ’ says Forrester analyst Sucharita Mulpuru. E-commerce is also (78) protected because online shoppers tend to be wealthier: about half of all online shopping is done by households that earn more than $ 75,000 per year, (79) though they’re just about a (80) of all households with Internet access. (81) not all Internet companies are set to benefit equally. Last month, e-commerce (82) eBay posted its first-ever quarterly revenue decline, (83) Amazon reported a sales surge of 18%.Smaller players are particularly (84) risk. ’There are some pretty vicious wars as companies go online and duke it out to get market share,’ says Mulpuru. ’The (85) I have is that we could go back down the spiral of death from 1999 and 2000, when companies would under-price themselves without thinking about (86) . ’
A. on
B. at
C. with
D. in
The Top 10 Cars that Americans Hate Times are so difficult for the auto industry that even Toyota and Honda have now experienced the kinds of double-digit sales dips that have been with American auto giants General Motors and Ford all year. Sales for the entire industry were down 25.6 percent collectively in September as consumers grew nervous about making big-ticket purchases. In good economic times and bad alike, however, there are some vehicles that American consumers seem to hate outright. And they’re not just the big SUVs that are currently out of favor. It turns out, the ears American consumers hate the most come in many different shapes and sizes, and they’re disliked for a wide array of reasons. "Buyers make the same choices and buy the safe brand," says Jessica Caldwell, manager of pricing and industry analysis at Edmunds. corn, an automotive consumer information Web site. "They are not thinking outside the box and buying something that may stand out as an odd purchase." In other words, the cars Americans seem to hate aren’t necessarily bad cars. In fact, the industry victims are, for the most part, solid quality cars, according to J. D. Power and Associates ratings on quality, design and performance. There are usually just one or two elements or features that throw consumers off, as is the case with the Dodge Magnum, which is a wagon ( American buyers gave up wagons for minivans a long time ago, then gave up minivans for SUVs); the Audi A3, which is a hatchback(有可向上开启天窗的汽车背部) ( consumers never cared much for them in the first place); and the Acura RL, which is just plain, says Stephanie Brinley, auto analyst at AutoPacific, Inc., an automotive marketing and product consulting firm. Car buyers are rightfully picky. From models that have quality issues (real or perceived) to simple design elements that lack aesthetic appeal, in each major vehicle class there’s at least one car U.S. consumers tend to steer clear of. To generate our list of the cars Americans hate, we looked at sales data for the 10 major vehicle segments defined by market research firm J. D. Power and Associates. The sales data, provided by Automotive News, a trade publication, spans 2006, 2007 and the first nine months of 2008. The vehicles with the lowest sales in their class made the list. We then looked at J.D. Power’s consumer ratings in two studies. The 2008 Initial Quality study reports buyer satisfaction with a vehicle in the first 90 days of ownership in terms of mechanical defects and malfunctions, as well as ease of using a particular feature. The 2008 Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout (APEAL) study measures owner delight with vehicle design, content and performance following the first 90 days of ownership. In both studies, a ring rating is used with five rings as the highest and two rings for the lowest. Some vehicles that earned five rings made the list, meaning not all high-quality cars are instant hits with consumers. Quite the opposite, in fact. In the subcompact (超小型汽车)car segment, the Kia Rio earned five rings in both J. D. Power studies, but only 92, 087 were sold in the measured period. The Rio even earns better quality ratings than the segment sales-leading Toyota Yaris, which saw sales of 243,602 in the same time frame. Why the snub (冷落) The major reason could be that Hyundai models suffered from quality issues with the engine and transmission in the late 1990s (Kia, a relatively new brand to the U. S., is owned by Hyundai), yet those problems were overcome slowly but surely. Today the company even offers a 10-year/100,000-mile limited power train warranty to back up its improved-quality claim. Nevertheless, some consumers still view a car like the Kia Rio as a risk. The Kia brand as a whole only earned two rings in the J. D. Power 2008 overall study. In some segments, like the midsize car, the competition is so fierce that very good cars wind up getting almost completely ignored. The Honda Accord ( 1.37 million sales in the aforementioned (上面提到的) time period) and Toyota Camry ( 1.27 million sales ) dominate the segment. Sales of the slightly cheaper Mitsubishi Galant were a mere blip(短暂的偏离现象) (75,089 sales) in that segment. The Galant gets slightly worse gas mileage than the Accord, 21 mpg versus 25 mpg, but according to J. D. Power, Galant owners (five rings in each study) liked their cars more than Accord owners (three rings in each study). "The problem with the Galant and cars like it is that no one knows the brand," says Caldwell. "You pull up and people ask, ’What’s this’ and then they want to know, ’Why did you buy it’ There just isn’t a lot of brand recognition. " But then there’s well-earned hatred, particularly due to quality issues, which is the case with the Jaguar XJ, of which only 10,852 were sold (the leader in the segment, the Cadillac DTS, saw sales above 135,000). The Jaguar brand was sold last year to Indian company Tata Motors, and when Jaguar lost its British edge it also lost favor with American buyers, says Caldwell. Even though the quality problems of Jaguars, to that point, had been well-known among consumers, the idea of having a British car parked in the driveway was, for a long time, enough to attract loyal American buyers. And that’s what’s missing in vehicle purchases today in general, says Brinley. The sheer emotion that persuades some buyers to choose a car they love over one that’s generally acceptable to the masses. In other words, the overall driving experience probably isn’t all that different from car to car within a segment. But all it takes is one design quirk or one long-since-overcome quality issue for consumers to develop a negative perception of a car. Taking a risk on an overlooked model within a segment may be a better choice, but consumers make logical, safe purchases rather than ones that might be more fun and stand out a little. "Many car buyers are still buying cars like they buy appliances," says Brinley. "They buy a car that fits their life needs but they are not purchasing it for the design or style. There’s no emotional attachment to it. \ The comparison between the Rio and Toyota Yaris illustrates that some vehicles that earned five rings are ______.
A. instant hits with consumers
B. not high-quality cars
C. not necessarily sold better
D. not better than lower quality ratings
So now you may be asking what is the difference between green tea and the black tea you are used to drinking. Both teas come from the same plant; the difference is the way the different teas are processed. The green tea is not fermented (发酵) before it has been dried. Because of the shorter processing time the green tea has a lighter flavor than the black tea. Green tea is good for you because the processing keeps all the beneficial elements left in the tea. Green tea doesn’t taste anything like the tea you usually drink. Most green tea drinkers do not add milk or sugar, but you can ff you like. Green tea has been described as having a light, fresh, green flavor. Some of the various green teas have just a little sweetness taste to them. Others are a little more astringent(涩味的). There are several different varieties of green tea each with its own flavor; however they all seem to have one flavor quality in common. To try really good green tea you will want to look in a gourmet(美食家) tea store rather than a grocery store. The grocery store doesn’t have the selection you will find in a gourmet tea store. You will find a good selection of green teas in your local Asian food store. Some of the types you will want to look for are: Sencha, Gunpowder, or Dragon Well. Green tea is brewed just like yon would brew the tea you normally drink, except you will not want the water to boil. You will want to brew you tea when the water is on the verge of boiling. Green tea is a more delicate tea so you want to the water to be a little cooler. Today, scientific research in both Asia and the west is providing hard evidence for the health benefits long associated with drinking green tea. The Chinese have known about the medicinal benefits of green tea since ancient times, using it to treat everything from headaches to depression. To date, the only negative side effect reported from drinking green tea is insomnia due to the fact that it contains caffeine. However, green tea contains less caffeine than coffee : there are approximately thirty to sixty mg. of caffeine in six-eight ounces of tea, compared to over one-hundred mg. in eight ounces of coffee. The water for green tea brewing______.
A. must be boiled
B. has no difference as to black tea
C. should be a bit cooler than boiling
D. has no special requests