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 or wipe counters almost without thinking, often in response to a carefully designed set of daily cues.
“There are fundamental public health problems, like dirty hands instead of a soap habit, 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 use 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, 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 shrewd 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.
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 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 ruthless advertising. As this new science of habit has emerged, con-troversies have erupted when the tactics have been used to sell questionable beauty creams or unhealthy foods. (413 words)
1.According to Dr. Curtis, habits like hand washing with soap（ ）.
2.Bottled water, chewing gum and skin moisturizers are mentioned in Paragraph 5 so as to （ ）.
3.Which of the following does NOT belong to products that help create people’s habits?
4.From the text we know that some of consumers’ habits are developed due to （ ）.
5.The author’s attitude toward the influence of advertisement on people’s habits is（ ）.
问题1选项
A.should be further cultivated
B.should be changed gradually
C.are deeply rooted in history
D.are basically private concerns
问题2选项
A.reveal their impact on people’s habits
B.show the urgent need of daily necessities
C.indicate their effect on people’s buying power
D.manifest the significant role of good habits
问题3选项
A.Tide.
B.Crest.
C.Colgate.
D.Unilever.
问题4选项
A.perfected art of products
B.automatic behavior creation
C.commercial promotions
D.scientific experiments
问题5选项
A.indifferent
B.negative
C.positive
D.biased
第1题:A
第2题:A
第3题:D
第4题:C
第5题:B
第1题:
【选项释义】
According to Dr. Curtis, habits like hand washing with soap______. 据柯蒂斯博士说，用肥皂洗手之类的习惯
______。
A. should be further cultivated A. 应该进一步培养
B. should be changed gradually B. 应该逐渐改变
C. are deeply rooted in history C. 深深植根于历史
D. are basically private concerns D. 基本上是私人问题
【考查点】推理判断题
【解题思路】根据题干可定位到第二段：There are fundamental public health problems, like dirty hands instead of a soap habit, that remain killers...，said Dr. Curtis... “We wanted to learn from private industry how to create new behaviors that happen automatically.” 柯蒂斯博士说：“有一些基本的公共卫生问题，比如脏手而不是肥皂习惯，它们仍然是杀手，只是因为我们不知道如何改变人们的习惯。我们想向私营企业学习如何创造自动发生的新行为。”通过句意的理解soap habit对应new behaviors that happen automatically. 而create对应选项中的cultivate，符合逻辑，所以A选项“应该进一步培养”正确。
【干扰项排除】
B项，虽然在定位段提到了change，但这里的改变指的是dirty hands应该改变，而不是soap habit，属于张冠李戴；
C、D选项原文没有提及，属于无中生有。
第2题:
【选项释义】
Bottled water, chewing gum and skin moisturizers are mentioned in Paragraph 5 so as to______. 第5段提及瓶装水、口香糖和皮肤保湿剂，以便______。
A. reveal their impact on people’s habits A. 揭示其对人们习惯的影响
B. show the urgent need of daily necessities B. 显示日常必需品的迫切需求
C. indicate their effect on people’s buying power C. 表明其对人们购买力的影响
D. manifest the significant role of good habits D. 体现良好习惯的重要作用
【考查点】推理判断题。
【解题思路】根据题干可定位到文章第五段。根据分析可知这一段主要在举例，而举例论证往往围绕着一个中心句展开，因此根据英文的行文习惯（先摆观点再论证），我们需往前看到第四段。该段首句：If you look hard enough, you’ll find that many of the products we use every day...are results of manufactured habits. （如果你仔细观察，你会发现我们每天使用的许多产品——口香糖、皮肤保湿剂、消毒巾、空气清新剂、净水器、健康零食、牙齿美白剂、织物柔软剂、维生素——都是人造习惯的结果）。由此得知“许多产品的使用都是被制造出的习惯”，因此，举诸多产品为例目的就是阐述“人们很多习惯的改变”，即A选项‘揭示其对人们习惯的影响’正确。
【干扰项排除】
B、C、D选项不能根据文章的逻辑结构推出，属于无中生有。
第3题:
【选项释义】
Which of the following does NOT belong to products that help create people’s habits? 以下哪一项不属于帮助人们养成习惯的产品？
A. Tide A. 汰渍
B. Crest B. 佳洁士
C. Colgate C. 高露洁
D. Unilever D. 联合利华
【考查点】推理判断题。
【解题思路】根据题干后半部分的表述that help create people’s habits以及选项信息可定位到第四段尾句和第六段首句两处：Today...many Americans habitually give their pearly whites a cavity-preventing scrub twice a day, often with Colgate, Crest or one of the other brands（如今，由于精明的广告和公共健康运动，许多美国人习惯了每天两次给珍珠般洁白的产品做防蛀牙的擦洗，通常是高露洁、佳洁士或其他品牌的产品。）Our products succeed when they become part of daily or weekly…company that sold $76 billion of Tide, Crest and other products last year（我们的产品成功当他们成为每日或每周的模式的一部分……公司出售760亿美元的汰渍,佳洁士和其他产品。）而D项虽然在第三段提及，但和题干信息不一致，属于出处错误，并且Unilever是公司名称，不是产品，所以D项是答案。
【干扰项排除】
A、B、C选项都有提及，属于反向干扰。
第4题:
【选项释义】
From the text we know that some of consumers’ habits are developed due to______. 从文章中我们知道，一些消费者的习惯是由于______。
A. perfected art of products A. 完美的产品艺术
B. automatic behavior creation B. 自动行为创造
C. commercial promotions C. 商业促销
D. scientific experiments D. 科学实验
【考查点】事实细节题。
【解题思路】根据题干可定位到第四段尾句：Today, because of shrewd advertising and public health campaigns, many Americans habitually give... 此句中，many Americans habitually = some of consumers, habits are developed, because of = due to，所以此句中的advertising和campaigns就是消费者养成某些习惯的原因，所以C项‘广告宣传’正确。
【干扰项排除】
A、B、D选项原文没有提及，属于无中生有。
第5题:
【选项释义】
The author’s attitude toward the influence of advertisement on people’s habits is______. 作者对广告对人们习惯影响的态度是______。
A. indifferent A. 漠不关心
B. negative B. 否定的
C. positive C. 肯定的
D. biased D. 有偏向性的
【考查点】观点态度题
【解题思路】根据题干信号词advertisement on people’s habits可定位到第四段尾句和第七段首句两处：（1）Today, because of shrewd advertising...many Americans habitually give... （2） Through..., social scientists. ..have learned that there is power in tying certain behaviors to habitual cues through ruthless advertising. 根据句中‘shrewd狡猾的，精明的’和‘ruthless无情的，无休止’这两个形容词，可以确定作者态度是negative，B选项正确。
