What’s the biggest online shopping day in the world? Not Valentine’s Day. Not Cyber Monday or Black Friday. The winner is China’s Singles’Day, celebrated on November11, or 11.11.
Singles’Day began as a day for unmarried or uncoupled people to celebrate their lives. Single students, looking for an excuse to buy themselves presents, started it on November11,1993, reported The Guardian. It is symbolized by the four mumber ones in the date of November11 and is also called Double Eleven, in reference to the day it was started, said the BBC. It became a major shopping day in 2009. The CEO of an online shopping site --Alibaba-- tried to increase sales at the e-commerce company. The CEO, Daniel Zhang, launched an annual online sale on that day, said Fortune. When it first began, “Sigles’Day was very much an offline comfort to actual single people,”noted the website atlas Obscura.”A small group of students at Nanjing University are said to have chosen 11.11 as a day that singles could do activities like karaoke together.”It quickly became a cultural phenomenon.
Last year, Alibaba sold more than $1 billion worth of products inthe first three minutes of the sales, reported Bloomberg News. Total sales on Singles’Day soared to $9 billion within 24 hours. That’s four times bigger than Cyber Monday in the U.S., which is the Monday after Thanksgiving and traditionally a big shopping day. By comparison, online sales in the U.S. last year on Black Friday were just $1.5 billion, reported TechCrunch.
Today, Singles’Day is very successful. Analysts say that this year, sales on China’s Singles’Day will increase to a new high. In the U.S., Jennifer Wang, a co-founder of a company targeting Chinese-Americans, said, “We expect to have 3 million people coming to click Dealmoon for the Singles’Day launch.” Some observers think Singles’Day could catch on globally.
13. How did the author introduce the topic of the passage?
A. By describing a holiday. B. By asking a question
C. By making a list. D. By telling a story
14. What’s the second paragraph mainly about?
A. How Singles’Day came into being. B. Why Singles’Day became popular.
C. When Singles’Day was started. D. Who first celebrated Singles’Day.
15. Why did China’s Singles’Day become a major shopping day?
A. Because singles celebrated their happy lives on November11.
B. Because students at Nanjing university took part in activities together.
C. Because an annual online sale was started on that day by Alibaba.
D. Because single students chose that day to buy themselves gifts.
16. Which of the following can best replace the underlined word “soared”in
Paragraph3?
A. Increased sharply. B. Decreased quickly.
C. Returned gradually. D. Appeared suddenly.
B A C A
A. Profits enlarging B. Technology developing C. Education investing D. Benefits transferring E. Dominance disappearing F. A nation rising |
The following is an imaginary diary entry written by US president. This diary is part of Global Trends 2025, which was written by the US National Intelligence Council
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The
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The
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Global wealth and economic power will shift from West to East.
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The transition from old fuels to new will be slow, as will the development of new technologies that present feasible alternatives to fossil fuels or help eliminate food and water problems. All current technologies are inadequate, and new ones will probably not be commercially possible by 2025