Question

If a business wants to sell its products internationally, it had better do some market research first. This is a lesson that some large American corporations have learned the hard way.

 What’s in the name?

Sometimes the problem is the name. When General Motors introduced its Chevy Nova into Latin America, it overlooked the fact that Nova in Spanish means “It doesn’t go”. Sure enough, the Chevy Nova never went anywhere in Latin America.

 Translation problems

Sometimes it is the slogan that doesn’t work. No company knows this better than Pepsi-Cola, with its “Come alive with Pepsi!” campaign. The campaign was so successful in the United States , Pepsi translated its slogan literally for its international campaign. As it turned out , the translations weren’t quite right. Pepsi was begging Germans to “Come out of the grave(墳墓)” and telling the Chinese that “Pepsi brings your ancestors(老祖宗) back from the grave.”

A picture’s worth a thousand words

 Other times, the problem involves packaging . A picture of a smiling baby has helped sell countless jars of Gerber baby food. When Gerber started selling baby food in Africa, they used the same packaging as in the US, with the smiling baby on the label. Later they learned that in African countries, the picture on the jar shows what the jar has in it, for many people there can’t read.

Twist of fate

Even the culture and religious factors and pure coincidence can be involved. Thorn McAn shoes have a Thorn McAn “signature” inside. To people in Bangladesh, which is a Muslim country, this signature looked like Arabic script for the word Allah. In that country, feet are considered unclean, and Muslims felt the company was offending God’s name by having people walk on it.

1.From the text we learned that _________.

A. Chevy Nova was brought in Latin America

B. General Motors did the best market research of all companies

C. Pepsi still sold well in China owing to the translation problems

D. the “Come alive with Pepsi” campaign worked well in the US

2.What was “Gerber’s problem”?

A. A translation problem                                     B. Cultural factor 

C. Religious factor                                         D. The picture on the jar

3.For what reason were Thorn McAn shoes turned down in Bangladesh?

A. They are not designed attractively 

B. Their advertisements are not persuasive

C. A signature looking like the word Allah was in the shoes

D. Problem for Thorn McAn was the company’s name

4.What does the text mainly tell us?

A. Lessons from some large corporations.

B. How to make use of advertisements

C. The importance of market research

D. The importance of packaging

 

Answer 1

【答案】

 

1.D

2.D

3.C

4.C

【解析】

試題分析：文章大意:本文以幾個實例向我們展示一些商戰(zhàn)中的教訓，告知我們想要拓展國際市場，我們首先一定要做一些市場調查。

1. D 細節(jié)理解題。 本題涉及細節(jié)較多，只能一個選項一個選項地核查。根據A選項中的Chevy Nova，Latin America到文中去找信息源，定位在小標題“What’s in the name?”那一段，根據“the Chevy Nova never went anywhere in Latin America.”可知該產品未能成功引進到Latin America，因此，A項錯誤。根據B選項中的General Motors到文中去找信息源，也在小標題“What’s in the name?”那一段�？赡抢锔�本沒說該公司做了最好的市場調查，因此，B項錯誤。根據C項中的Pepsi， translation problems可以找到相關信息在第二小標題“Translation problems”之下，而根據那段的信息，…telling the Chinese that “Pepsi brings your ancestors(老祖宗) back from the grave.”,……告訴中國人“Pepsi把你的老祖宗從墳里挖出來”可知這是中國人不喜歡聽的一句話，中國人不可能因為這種翻譯而讓Pepsi在中國暢銷，因此，C項錯誤。D項的信息源也在第二小標題之下，The campaign was so successful in the United States這個運動在美國非常成功�？芍狣項正確。

2.D 細節(jié)理解題。由第三小標題A picture’s worth a thousand words中提到的 “the picture on the jar shows what the jar has in it, for many people there can’t read.”罐子上面的圖畫顯示的就是罐子里所裝的東西，因為那里的人不會閱讀�？芍獑栴}出在包裝圖案上，答案選D。

3. C 推理判斷題。由題目中的Thorn McAn，Bangladesh可以找到該題的信息源在小標題“Twist of fate”這下。 “this signature looked like Arabic script for the word Allah.”  Thorn McAn shoes上的簽名看起來就像是阿拉伯文字Allah。 孟加拉國是一個穆斯林國家，Allah被認為是宇宙的最高主宰，而腳被認為是不干凈的，孟加拉國的人認為該鞋的創(chuàng)意，冒犯了他們的神靈�？芍猅hom McAn鞋在Bangladesh滯銷的原因是鞋上的簽名，所以選C項。

4.C主旨大意題。像這種有小標題的文章，文章的主旨大意一般位于文章的開頭，或最后一段，反正不可能位于有小標題的部分。而這篇文章最后一個小標題的內容講完以后，就再無下文了，因此，該文的主旨只可能在第一段。If a business wants to sell its products internationally, it had better do some market research first. 如果一家公司想要讓產品走向世界，最好先進行市場調查。由此可知本文講述了市場調查的重要性。故選C。