It’s a brand new world—a world built around brands. Hard charging, noise making, culture shaping brands are everywhere. They’re on supermarket shelves, of course, but also in business plans for dotcom startups and in the names of sports complexes. Brands are infiltrating people’s everyday lives—by sticking their logos on clothes, in concert programs, on subway station wall, even in elementary school classrooms.
We live in an age in which CBS newscasters wear Nike jackets on the air, in which Burger King and McDonald’s open kiosks in elementary-school lunchrooms, in which schools like Stanford University are endowed with a Yahoo! Founders Chair. But as brands reach (and then overreach) into every aspect of our lives, the companies behind them invite more questions, deeper scrutiny—and an inevitable backlash by consumers.
“Our intellectual lives and our public spaces are being taken over by marketing—and that has real implications for citizenship, says author and activist Naomi Klein. “It’s important for any healthy culture to have public space—a place where people are treated as citizens instead of as consumers. We’ve completely lost that space.”
Since the mid-1980s, as more and more companies have shifted from being about products to being about ideas—Starbucks isn’t sling coffee; it’s selling community!—those companies have poured more and more resources into marketing campaigns.
To pay for those campaigns, those same companies figured out ways to cut costs elsewhere—for example, by using contract labor at home and low-wage labor in developing countries. Contract laborers are hired on a temporary, per-assignment basis, and employers have no obligation to provide (any benefits, such as health insurance) or long-term job security. This saves companies money but obviously puts workers in vulnerable situations. In the United States, contract labor has given rise to so-called McJobs, which employers and workers alike pretend are temporary—even though these jobs are usually held by adults who are trying to support families.
The massive expansion of marketing campaigns in the 1980s coincided with the reduction of government spending for schools and for museums. This made those institutions much too willing, even eager, to partner with private companies. But companies took advantage of the needs of those institutions, reaching too far, and overwhelming the civic space with their marketing agendas.
46. What does the passage intend to tell us?
47. Which of the following does the author state as a factor in the increasing presence of brands in peoples’ lives?
48. The text suggests that most contract laborers in the U.S. ______.
49. We may infer from the last paragraph that ______.
问题1选项
A.The problems with current corporate practices.
B.The nature of current marketing campaigns and strategies.
C.The importance of brands in American culture.
D.The excessive presence of brands and marketing in people’s lives.
问题2选项
A.The aggressive nature of corporate marketing.
B.The willingness of schools and museums to cooperate with private companies.
C.The lack of government regulations of marketing methods.
D.The marketing campaigns take up public spaces.
问题3选项
A.pretend to be temporary workers
B.may have trouble supporting their families financially
C.have work conditions comparable to those of low-wage workers overseas
D.are likely to receive health benefits from their employers
问题4选项
A.inadequate federal funding facilitated the privatization of schools and museums
B.government reduced spending for schools and museums for their cooperation with companies
C.public institutions were too quick to accept corporate marketing as a source of funding
D.by the 1980s, very few public institutions were not being funded by corporations
46.【试题答案】D
【试题解析】主旨大意题。题干意思是“这篇文章想要告诉我们什么?”。文章在第一段就提到It’s a brand new world–a world built around brands. Hard charging, noise making, culture shaping brands are everywhere.(这是一个全新的围绕品牌建立的世界。强势收费、制造噪音、塑造文化的品牌无处不在。),接下来几个段落,作者通过举例指出品牌和营销在人民生活中的不断渗入,包括衣服、电视节目、公共空间和教室等,并且品牌和营销使得公司费用增加,从而迫使公司降低员工的成本;综合推断可知,这篇文章主要讲的是品牌和营销在人们生活的方方面面中过度渗透,D项“品牌和营销在人们生活中的过度存在”正确;A项“公司现行做法存在的问题”和B项“当前营销活动和策略的性质”都只是文章的部分内容;C项“品牌在美国文化中的重要性”没有提到。因此,该题选择D项正确。
47.【试题答案】A
【试题解析】推理判断题。题干意思是“作者认为下列哪项是品牌在人们生活中日益增多的一个因素?”。第二段最后一句提到But as brands reach (and then overreach) into every aspect of our lives, the companies behind them invite more questions, deeper scrutiny—and an inevitable backlash by consumers.(但是,随着品牌渗透到我们生活的方方面面,然后是过度渗透,它们背后的公司引来了更多的问题和更深入的审视,以及消费者不可避免的强烈反应。),以及文章最后一句But companies took advantage of the needs of those institutions, reaching too far, and overwhelming the civic space with their marketing agendas.(但企业利用了这些机构的需求,影响太远,用营销计划压倒了公民空间。)综合推断,品牌在人们生活中日益增加的一个原因是品牌营销侵略性太强,故A项“企业营销的侵略性”正确;由文章最后一段第一句The massive expansion of marketing campaigns in the 1980s coincided with the reduction of government spending for schools and for museums.(20世纪80年代,市场营销活动的大规模扩张与政府对学校和博物馆的开支削减相吻合。)可知,B项“学校和博物馆与私营公司合作的意愿”只是市场营销活动的大规模扩张与政府开支削减吻合的结果,并不符合题干;C项“市场营销方式缺乏政府监管”没有提到;D项“营销活动占用了公共空间”属于营销侵略性的特点。因此,该题选择A项正确。
48.【试题答案】B
【试题解析】推理判断题。题干意思是“文章暗示美国大多数合同工……”。根据第五段最后一句In the United States, contract labor has given rise to so-called McJobs, which employers and workers alike pretend are temporary—even though these jobs are usually held by adults who are trying to support families.(在美国,合同劳工催生了所谓的“麦当劳工作”,雇主和工人都假装这些工作是临时的,尽管做这些工作通常是设法养家糊口的人。)可推知,文章暗含的意思就是这些美国合同工养家糊口可能是有困难的,B项“养家糊口可能有困难”正确;A项“假装是临时工”在文章中明确提及了,并不是暗含的意思;C项“工作条件与海外的低薪工人相当”没提到;由第五段中的Contract laborers are hired on a temporary, per-assignment basis, and employers have no obligation to provide (any benefits, such as health insurance) or long-term job security.(合同工是临时雇佣的,按任务分配,雇主没有义务提供任何福利,如医疗保险或长期的工作保障)可知,D项“有可能从他们的雇主那里得到健康福利”错误。因此,该题选择B项正确。
49.【试题答案】C
【试题解析】推理判断题。题干意思是“我们从最后一段可以推断出……”。根据最后一段前两句的内容The massive expansion of marketing campaigns in the 1980s coincided with the reduction of government spending for schools and for museums. This made those institutions much too willing, even eager, to partner with private companies.(20世纪80年代,市场营销活动的大规模扩张与政府对学校和博物馆的开支削减相吻合。这使得这些机构非常愿意、甚至迫切地与私营企业合作。)可以推断,学校、博物馆等这些公共机构急于通过企业营销来削减开支,即作为一种资金的来源,故C项“公共机构太急于接受企业营销作为一种资金来源”符合题意;最后一段没有提到联邦资金,A项“联邦资金不足导致学校和博物馆私有化”不正确;B项“政府减少了学校和博物馆与公司合作的开支”错误,并不是政府减少了开支,而是市场营销;D项“到20世纪80年代,很少有公共机构不是由公司资助的”错误,营销公司帮助公共机构的是削减开支,并不是资助。因此,该题选择C项正确。