Market analysts in the United States have recently been quoted as saying that the biggest threat to the luxury (奢侈品) industry in the US is the tech industry. This is according to an article by fellow journalist Ashley Lutz. Her suggestion is sound. The main idea of her article is that products from Tiffany & Co. find their biggest petition not from other luxury brands but from panies like Apple. Lutz points out that luxury products are often only for “show,” while the attraction behind tech products is functionality.
You find few people in the United States today willing to purchase luxury goods at full price. It didn’t use to be that way. Luxury goods used to be actually exclusive. That meant you needed to travel to the right store to purchase them, and you didn’t even have the option of getting a deal.
Today, no one wants to pay full price for luxury goods. People have the unfortunate belief that fakes (赝品) somehow are equal to originals, and if you can’t get a deal on eBay, Amazon, or in an outlet store, purchasing a luxury product probably isn’t worth it. Luxury brands struggle to remain high-end (高档的) images despite the reality that the American consumer is motivated much more by discounts than they are by brand names or image.
Yet people stand in line to pay full price for a new product from Apple and crowds gather to hear about a new smart phone. While electronics are updating every day, people are purchasing technology at full prices much more than they are purchasing luxury goods. What are high-tech makers doing right that luxury makers are pitifully failing at?
Carefully looking at the situation, it would appear as if the Internet didn’t hurt the luxury industry, expectation from the consumers did. What people want these days more than anything is stuff that does something. They want cars that drive, shoes that are fortable, games that are fun to play, screens that are beautiful to look at, tools that are useful, and entertainment that is entertaining. Little of that fits into what the luxury industry has typically offered with its status, image, and fine materials. The sad reality is that luxury products aren’t that luxury any more.
【小题1】What does this passage mainly talk about?A．Nobody likes luxury goods any more.B．Luxury goods are of poor quality nowadays.C．Tech products bee the new “luxury goods”.D．Iphones have taken the place of luxury products.【小题2】The underlined word “exclusive” in paragraph 2 means .A．unique and with no bargainB．low in priceC．hard to findD．easy to sell【小题3】From paragraph 3 we can know that .A．people have found that some luxury goods are fakesB．people can buy luxury goods at a low price on eBayC．luxury brands will give up high-end imagesD．consumers prefer brand names to discounts【小题4】What do people pay most attention to nowadays?A．The Internet service.B．The images of luxuries.C．The function of products.D．The expectation from the consumers.C
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(答案→)C
解析：文章大意：美国奢侈品行业所面临的威胁。其最大威胁来自美国的高科技行业。并分析了个中原因。
【小题1】C 主旨大意题。根据第一段的阐述：“据称美国的市场分析人士最近表示美国奢侈品行业面临的最大威胁来自美国的高科技行业。消息来自一位记者同行阿什丽·鲁兹Ashley Lutz的文章她的报道非常可信该文章的要点在于蒂芙尼公司Tiffany Co发现其产品的最大竞争者并非其他奢侈品牌而是苹果这样的公司。鲁兹指出奢侈品经常仅用于炫耀而科技产品背后的吸引力在于它的功能性”我们可以得到答案。
【小题2】A 词义猜测题。上文说“在美国你会发现很少有人愿意出全价购买奢侈品了”说明“奢侈品在过去是一种独特的不打折（不讨价还价）的商品”。
【小题3】B推理判断题。从本段中“如果你不能在e电子港湾（eBay）、亚马逊或一家打折店里买到折价商品而去购买奢侈品，这可能会被认为是非常不值的。”可以推断“人们可以在e电子港湾以打折的价格即低价买到奢侈品”。
【小题4】C 推理判断题。根据最后一段“审视这一情况时，看起来伤害奢侈品行业的好像不是互联网，而是消费者的预期。人们眼下最想要的是具有某些功用的东西。他们想要好开的汽车、舒适的鞋、有趣的游戏画质、出众的屏幕、实用的工具以及精彩的娱乐。这些诉求基本上与奢侈品行业传统上提供的产品及其看重的身份形象和精良材质不搭边。一个悲惨的现实是奢侈品不再那么奢侈了。”我们可以推断答案。