Over the past decade, many companies had perfected the art of creating automatic behaviors—habits—among consumers. These habits have helped companies earn billions of dollars when customers eat snacks, apply lotions and wipe counters almost without thinking, often in response to a carefully designed set of daily cues.
“There are fundamental public health problems, like hand washing with soap, that remain killers only because we can’t figure out how to change people’s habits,” said Dr. Curtis, the director of the Hygiene Center at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. “We wanted to learn from private industry how to create new behaviors that happen automatically.”
The companies that Dr. Curtis turned to—Procter & Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive and Unilever—had invested hundreds of millions of dollars finding the subtle cues in consumers’ lives that corporations could used to introduce new routines.
If you look hard enough, you’ll find that many of the products we use every day—chewing gums, skin moisturizers, disinfecting wipes, air fresheners, water purifiers, health snacks, antiperspirants, colognes, teeth whiteners, fabric softeners, vitamins—are results of manufactured habits. A century ago, few people regularly brushed their teeth multiple times a day. Today, because of canny advertising and public health campaigns, many Americans habitually give their pearly whites a cavity-preventing scrub twice a day, often with Colgate, Crest or one of the other brands advertising that no morning is complete without a minty-fresh mouth.
A few decades ago, many people didn’t drink water outside of a meal. Then beverage companies started bottling the production of far-off springs, and now office workers unthinkingly sip bottled water all day long. Chewing gum, once bought primarily by adolescent boys, is now featured in commercials as a breath freshener and teeth cleanser for use after a meal. Skin moisturizers—which are effective even if applied at high noon—are advertised as part of morning beauty rituals, slipped in between hair brushing and putting on makeup.
“Our products succeed when they become part of daily or weekly patterns,” said Carol Berning, a consumer psychologist who recently retired from Procter & Gamble, the company that sold $76 billion of Tide, Crest and other products last year. “Creating positive habits is a huge part of improving our consumers’ lives, and it’s essential to making new products commercially viable.”
Through experiments and observation, social scientists like Dr. Berning have learned that there is power in tying certain behaviors to habitual cues through relentless advertising. As this new science of habit has emerged, controversies have erupted when the tactics have been used to sell questionable beauty creams or unhealthy foods. But for activists like Dr. Curtis, this emerging research offers a type of salvation.
1. According to the author, consumers’ good habits in the past were developed by ____.
2. Judging from the context, the word “killers” (Line 1, Para.2) most probably refers to ____.
3. Judging from the context, Colgate and Crest are most probably ____.
4. Bottled water, chewing gum, and skin moisturizers are used in paragraph 5 as examples to indicate ____.
5. Which of the following groups has unfavorable opinion on advertising?
问题1选项
A.the efforts of many companies
B.themselves automatically
C.perfect art of creating automatic behaviors
D.a carefully designed set of daily cues
问题2选项
A.fundamental public health problems
B.things which are extremely difficult to deal with
C.people who deliberately take other’s life
D.new behaviors that happen automatically
问题3选项
A.famous American companies
B.daily consumer products
C.tooth-paste brands
D.pearly white jewelry
问题4选项
A.the importance of good habits
B.some daily necessities for the common people
C.some products that have successfully changed people’s habits
D.part of daily or weekly patterns of people’s life
问题5选项
A.Consumer psychologists.
B.Social scientists.
C.Company presidents.
D.Activists like Dr. Curtis.
第1题:A
第2题:A
第3题:C
第4题:C
第5题:B
第1题:
【选项释义】
According to the author, consumers’ good habits in the past were developed by ____. 作者认为，过去消费者的好习惯是通过____养成的。
A. the efforts of many companies A. 许多公司的努力
B. themselves automatically B. 自己自觉
C. perfect art of creating automatic behaviors C. 创造自觉行为的完美艺术
D. a carefully designed set of daily cues D. 一套精心设计的日常线索
【答案】A
【考查点】事实细节题。
【解题思路】根据第一段首句“在过去的十年中，许多公司（many companies）已经完善了在消费者群体中形成自发性的行为（automatic behaviors）或者说是习惯（habits）的艺术。”由此可知，过去消费者的许多习惯实际上是很多公司努力培养的结果，选项A符合原文。
【干扰项排除】
B选项“自己自觉”原文没有提及，属于无中生有；
C选项“创造自觉行为的完美艺术”定位到第一段第一句“许多公司已经完善了在消费者中创造自动行为——习惯的艺术”，题目中“good habits”指的就是“automatic behaviors”，属于出处错位；
D选项“一套精心设计的日常线索”定位到第一段最后一句“通常是对一套精心设计的日常线索做出反应”，属于出处错位。
第2题:
【选项释义】
Judging from the context, the word “killers” (Line 1, Para.2) most probably refers to ____. 从上下文来看，“killers”（第二段第一行）很可能指的是____。
A. fundamental public health problems A. 基本公共卫生问题
B. things which are extremely difficult to deal with B. 非常难以处理的事情
C. people who deliberately take other’s life C. 故意夺走别人生命的人
D. new behaviors that happen automatically D. 自动发生的新行为
【答案】A
【考查点】语义推断题。
【解题思路】根据第二段首句“还有一些基本的公共卫生问题（fundamental public health problems），比如用肥皂洗手，仍然是杀手（killers）。”由此可知，“killer”指的就是“fundamental public health problems”，所以选项A正确。
【干扰项排除】
B选项“非常难以处理的事情”和C选项“故意夺走别人生命的人”原文没有提及，属于无中生有；
D选项“自动发生的新行为”可定位到第二段最后一句“我们想向私营企业学习如何创造自动发生的新行为。”与题目中的“killers”不相关，属于出处错位。
第3题:
【选项释义】
Judging from the context, Colgate and Crest are most probably ____. 从上下文判断，高露洁和佳洁士最有可能是____。
A. famous American companies A. 著名的美国公司
B. daily consumer products B. 日常消费品
C. tooth-paste brands C. 牙膏品牌
D. pearly white jewelry D. 珍珠白的珠宝
【答案】C
【考查点】推理判断题。
【解题思路】根据第四段最后一句“如今，由于精明的广告宣传和公共健康宣传活动，许多美国人习惯给他们珍珠般洁白的牙齿一天两次的防蛀牙刷洗（pearly whites a cavity-preventing scrub），常用的是高露洁、佳洁士（Colgate, Crest）或其他品牌中的某一个，这些产品经常宣传说，没有薄荷清新的口腔（a minty-fresh mouth），早晨是不完整的。”由此可推测出，Colgate和Crest是牙膏品牌，所以选项C正确。
【干扰项排除】
A选项“著名的美国公司”原文中并不能体现“famous（著名的）”，属于推理过度；
B选项“日常消费品”定位到第四段第一句“你会发现我们每天使用的许多产品——口香糖、皮肤保湿剂、消毒湿巾、空气清新剂、净水器、健康零食、止汗剂、古龙水、牙齿增白剂、织物柔软剂、维生素”，属于出处错位；
D选项“珍珠白的珠宝”表述有误，原文说的是“珍珠白的牙齿”，属于偷换概念。
第4题:
【选项释义】
Bottled water, chewing gum, and skin moisturizers are used in paragraph 5 as examples to indicate ____. 第5段以瓶装水、口香糖、皮肤润肤乳为例，是为了说明____。
A. the importance of good habits A. 好习惯的重要性
B. some daily necessities for the common people B. 一些普通百姓的生活必需品
C. some products that have successfully changed people’s habits C. 一些产品已经成功地改变了人们的习惯
D. part of daily or weekly patterns of people’s life D. 这是人们日常或每周生活模式的一部分
【答案】C
【考查点】判断推理题。
【解题思路】原文第六段首句提及“当我们的产品成为日常或每周模式的一部分时，我们的产品就成功了”，也就是说，这些产品之所以成功，是因为它们改变了人们的生活习惯，而这些产品就是上文所提及的瓶装水，口香糖和润肤霜。所以选项C正确。
【干扰项排除】
A选项“好习惯的重要性”原文没有提及，属于无中生有；
B选项“一些普通百姓的生活必需品”不是作者举例想要说明的事情，属于曲解原文；
D选项“这是人们日常或每周生活模式的一部分”可定位到第六段首句“当我们的产品成为日常或每周模式的一部分时，我们的产品就成功了”，作者真实的意图是说明这些产品改变了人们的生活习惯，属于曲解原文。
第5题:
【选项释义】
Which of the following groups has unfavorable opinion on advertising? 以下哪一组人对广告有负面看法？
A. Consumer psychologists A. 消费者心理学家
B. Social scientists B. 社会科学家
C. Company presidents C. 公司总裁
D. Activists like Dr. Curtis D. 像柯蒂斯博士这样的活动家
【答案】B
【考查点】判断推理题。
【解题思路】根据原文最后一段的内容可知“通过实验和观察，像伯宁博士这样的社会科学家们已经认识到，通过无休止的广告，将某些行为与习惯暗示联系起来是有用的。随着这种新的习惯科学出现，当这种策略被用于销售有问题的美容霜或不健康食品时，争议就爆发了。”由此可知，社会科学家们可能会对广告有不好的看法，所以选项B正确。
【干扰项排除】
A选项“消费者心理学家”可定位到第六段首句“‘当产品成为每日或每周模式的一部分时，我们的产品就会成功，’消费者心理学家Carol Berning说。”由此可知，消费者心理学家是认为广告改变了人们的生活习惯，让产品获得成功，他们是支持广告的，属于反向干扰；
C选项“公司总裁”原文没有提及，属于无中生有；
D选项可定位到最后一段的最后一句“但对Dr. Curtis这样的活动人士来说，这项新兴的研究提供了一种救赎。”由此可知，Dr. Curtis是支持广告的，属于反向干扰。
