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?zāi)?” 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(gè)實(shí)例向我們展示一些商戰(zhàn)中的教訓(xùn)，告知我們想要拓展國(guó)際市場(chǎng)，我們首先一定要做一些市場(chǎng)調(diào)查。

1. D 細(xì)節(jié)理解題。 本題涉及細(xì)節(jié)較多，只能一個(gè)選項(xiàng)一個(gè)選項(xiàng)地核查。根據(jù)A選項(xiàng)中的Chevy Nova，Latin America到文中去找信息源，定位在小標(biāo)題“What’s in the name?”那一段，根據(jù)“the Chevy Nova never went anywhere in Latin America.”可知該產(chǎn)品未能成功引進(jìn)到Latin America，因此，A項(xiàng)錯(cuò)誤。根據(jù)B選項(xiàng)中的General Motors到文中去找信息源，也在小標(biāo)題“What’s in the name?”那一段�？赡抢锔�本沒(méi)說(shuō)該公司做了最好的市場(chǎng)調(diào)查，因此，B項(xiàng)錯(cuò)誤。根據(jù)C項(xiàng)中的Pepsi， translation problems可以找到相關(guān)信息在第二小標(biāo)題“Translation problems”之下，而根據(jù)那段的信息，…telling the Chinese that “Pepsi brings your ancestors(老祖宗) back from the grave.”,……告訴中國(guó)人“Pepsi把你的老祖宗從墳里挖出來(lái)”可知這是中國(guó)人不喜歡聽(tīng)的一句話，中國(guó)人不可能因?yàn)檫@種翻譯而讓Pepsi在中國(guó)暢銷(xiāo)，因此，C項(xiàng)錯(cuò)誤。D項(xiàng)的信息源也在第二小標(biāo)題之下，The campaign was so successful in the United States這個(gè)運(yùn)動(dòng)在美國(guó)非常成功�？芍狣項(xiàng)正確。

2.D 細(xì)節(jié)理解題。由第三小標(biāo)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(huà)顯示的就是罐子里所裝的東西，因?yàn)槟抢锏娜瞬粫?huì)閱讀�？芍獑�(wèn)題出在包裝圖案上，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(biāo)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(lái)就像是阿拉伯文字Allah。 孟加拉國(guó)是一個(gè)穆斯林國(guó)家，Allah被認(rèn)為是宇宙的最高主宰，而腳被認(rèn)為是不干凈的，孟加拉國(guó)的人認(rèn)為該鞋的創(chuàng)意，冒犯了他們的神靈。可知Thom McAn鞋在Bangladesh滯銷(xiāo)的原因是鞋上的簽名，所以選C項(xiàng)。

4.C主旨大意題。像這種有小標(biāo)題的文章，文章的主旨大意一般位于文章的開(kāi)頭，或最后一段，反正不可能位于有小標(biāo)題的部分。而這篇文章最后一個(gè)小標(biāo)題的內(nèi)容講完以后，就再無(wú)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(chǎn)品走向世界，最好先進(jìn)行市場(chǎng)調(diào)查。由此可知本文講述了市場(chǎng)調(diào)查的重要性。故選C。