Passage 2
This year’s Nobel Prize for economics honors work inspired by a simple observation about used cars.
Today’s global economy is a colorful landscape. Brands are ubiquitous, sprouting from billboards, television and magazine advertisements that relentlessly praise the virtues of products. Humans themselves are not immune: American business leaders advise executives to style themselves as a product, “Brand You.”
But brands do help to make the world easier to navigate. A Coke or a Big Mac, say, is almost the same everywhere in the world. The customer knows the quality of a product by its brand. To understand why brands are so valuable an economic innovation—despite being laughed at by the anti-globalization lobby—you need only imagine what happens when sellers offer a product whose quality a buyer cannot easily judge.
Take the frustratingly familiar problem of buying a used car. Assume that used cars come in two types: those that are in good repair, and “lemons” as Americans and most economists call them. Suppose further that used-car shoppers would be prepared to pay $20,000 for a good one and $10,000 for a lemon. As for the sellers, lemon-owners require $8,000 to part with their old car, while the careful-driver old lady with the well-maintained car won’t part with hers for less than $17,000. If buyers had the information to tell wheat from chaff, they could strike fair trades with the sellers, the old lady getting a high price and the lemon-owner rather less.
If buyers cannot spot the quality difference, though, as is often the case in the real world, there will be only one market for all used cars, and buyers will be ready to pay only the average price of a good car and a lemon, or $15,000. This is below the $17,000 that good-car owners require; so they will exit the market, leaving only bad cars. This result, when bad quality pushes good quality from the market because of an information gap, is known as “adverse selection”. This was the simple but powerful insight of one of this year’s Nobel winners, George Akerlof, in a seminal 1970 paper.
Theories that deal with similar instances of so-called “asymmetric” information—when one party to a deal knows more than the other—link all three of this year’s winners. It seems that a great many markets, including those for shares, labor, insurance and banking, often resemble a used-car sale more closely than a McDonald’s restaurant.
56. How do the customer judge the quality of a product today?
57. What does the logo “Brand You” probably mean?
58. What does the word “lemon” mean in this passage?
59. Buyers will be ready to pay only the average price for any used car because ________.
60. It can be inferred that ________.
问题1选项
A.By its brand.
B.By advertisement.
C.By its virtues.
D.By its innovation.
问题2选项
A.One has to have a brand to become an executive.
B.One needs to have a personal style to be recognized.
C.One needs brand to immunize himself from advertisement.
D.One has to wear clothes with famous brand to become successful.
问题3选项
A.A good quality product.
B.A very expensive fruit.
C.A lower quality product.
D.A very careful driver.
问题4选项
A.this is the only one price for use cars in the market
B.the well-maintained used cars have exited the market
C.in real world good-car owners require too much
D.they lack the information to spot the quality difference
问题5选项
A.asymmetric information was created by all three winners
B.there is asymmetric information in most markets
C.McDonald’s best illustrates information gap
D.adverse selection is the result of too much advertising
第1题:A
第2题:B
第3题:C
第4题:D
第5题:B
第1题:
【选项释义】
How do the customer judge the quality of a product today? 如今顾客如何判断产品质量？
A. By its brand. A. 靠品牌。
B. By advertisement. B. 靠广告。
C. By its virtues. C. 靠它的优点。
D. By its innovation. D. 靠创新。
【考查点】事实细节题。
【解题思路】根据题干关键词customer judge the quality of a product可以定位到文章第三段第三句The customer knows the quality of a product by its brand.（顾客通过品牌了解产品的质量。），说明顾客是通过品牌来判断产品质量的。因此A选项“靠品牌。”正确。
【干扰项排除】
B选项“靠广告。”，虽然文章提到广告宣传品牌，但这不是顾客判断产品质量的方法，属于出处错位；
C选项“靠它的优点。”，虽然文章提到广告赞美产品的优点，但这不是顾客判断产品质量的方法，属于出处错位；
D选项“靠创新。”在文中没有提及，属于无中生有。
第2题:
【选项释义】
What does the logo “Brand You” probably mean? 标语“Brand You”大概是什么意思？
A. One has to have a brand to become an executive. A. 一个人要想成为高管，就必须有自己的品牌。
B. One needs to have a personal style to be recognized. B. 一个人需要有个人风格才能被认可。
C. One needs brand to immunize himself from advertisement. C. 一个人需要品牌来抵御广告。
D. One has to wear clothes with famous brand to become successful. D. 一个人要想成功，就必须穿名牌服装。
【考查点】推理判断题。
【解题思路】根据题干关键词Brand You可以定位到文章第二段最后一句American business leaders advise executives to style themselves as a product, “Brand You.”（美国商业领袖建议企业高管将自己塑造成一种产品，即“打造你的品牌”。），说明高管需要打造个人风格，像品牌一样被认知和认可。因此B选项“一个人需要有个人风格才能被认可。”正确。
【干扰项排除】
A选项“一个人要想成为高管，就必须有自己的品牌。”，文中提到建议高管塑造个人风格，但并没有说必须有品牌才能成为高管，属于过度推断；
C选项“一个人需要品牌来抵御广告。”在文中没有提及，属于无中生有；
D选项“一个人要想成功，就必须穿名牌服装。”，文中的Brand指的是打造品牌，而不是名牌服装，属于偷换概念。
第3题:
【选项释义】
What does the word “lemon” mean in this passage? 这篇文章中的“lemon”是什么意思？
A. A good quality product. A. 质量好的产品。
B. A very expensive fruit. B. 一种非常昂贵的水果。
C. A lower quality product. C. 质量较差的产品。
D. A very careful driver. D. 非常细心的司机。
【考查点】词汇推断题。
【解题思路】根据题干关键词lemon可以定位到文章第四段第三、四句Suppose further that used-car shoppers would be prepared to pay $20,000 for a good one and $10,000 for a lemon. As for the sellers, lemon-owners require $8,000 to part with their old car, while the careful-driver old lady with the well-maintained car won’t part with hers for less than $17,000.（假设二手车消费者愿意花2万美元买一辆好车，花1万美元买一辆“柠檬车”。至于卖家，“柠檬车主”只需8000美元就愿意出售，而小心驾驶的老太太拥有一辆保养良好的汽车，她不会以低于17000美元的价格出售。），说明lemon指的是质量较差的二手车。因此C项“质量较差的产品。”正确。
【干扰项排除】
A选项“质量好的产品。”，文章说的是lemon指的是低质量产品，而不是高质量产品，属于反向干扰；
B选项“一种非常昂贵的水果。”，文章是用lemon来指代低质量产品，而不是水果本身，属于偷换概念；
D选项“非常细心的司机。”，文章提到小心驾驶的老太太拥有一辆保养良好的汽车，而不是用lemon来指代她，属于出处错位。
第4题:
【选项释义】
Buyers will be ready to pay only the average price for any used car because ________. 买方只愿意为任何一辆二手车支付平均价格，因为________。
A. this is the only one price for use cars in the market A. 这是市场上二手车的唯一价格
B. the well-maintained used cars have exited the market B. 保养良好的二手车已经退出市场
C. in real world good-car owners require too much C. 在现实世界中，好车主的要求太高了
D. they lack the information to spot the quality difference D. 他们缺乏发现质量差异的信息
【考查点】推理判断题。
【解题思路】根据题干关键词pay only the average price可以定位到文章第五段第一句If buyers cannot spot the quality difference, though, as is often the case in the real world, there will be only one market for all used cars, and buyers will be ready to pay only the average price of a good car and a lemon, or $15,000.（不过，如果买方无法辨别质量的差异，而现实世界中的情况又往往如此，那么所有的二手车将只有一个市场，买方将只愿意支付一辆好车和一辆劣质车的平均价格，即15000美元。），说明买家支付平均价格的原因是他们无法分辨车的质量差异。因此D选项“他们缺乏发现质量差异的信息”正确。
【干扰项排除】
A选项“这是市场上二手车的唯一价格”和C选项“在现实世界中，好车主的要求太高了”在文中没有提及，属于无中生有；
B选项“保养良好的二手车已经退出市场”，虽然文中提到了好车退出市场，但这不是买家只愿意支付平均价格的直接原因，属于出处错位。
第5题:
【选项释义】
It can be inferred that ________. 可以推断出________。
A. asymmetric information was created by all three winners A. 三个获奖者都造成了信息不对称
B. there is asymmetric information in most markets B. 大多数市场都存在信息不对称现象
C. McDonald’s best illustrates information gap C. 麦当劳最能说明信息差距
D. adverse selection is the result of too much advertising D. 逆向选择是过多广告的结果
【考查点】推理判断题。
【解题思路】根据B选项关键词asymmetric information可以定位到文章第六段Theories that deal with similar instances of so-called “asymmetric” information—when one party to a deal knows more than the other—link all three of this year’s winners. It seems that a great many markets, including those for shares, labor, insurance and banking, often resemble a used-car sale more closely than a McDonald’s restaurant.（今年的三位诺贝尔奖得主都有类似的所谓“信息不对称”的理论，即交易的一方比另一方知道得更多。包括股票、劳动力、保险和银行业在内的许多市场似乎都更像二手车交易市场，而不是麦当劳餐厅。），说明股票、劳动力、保险和银行业在内的大多数市场中存在信息不对称的情况。因此B选项“大多数市场都存在信息不对称现象”正确。
【干扰项排除】
A选项“三个获奖者都造成了信息不对称”，文章没有说信息不对称是三位诺贝尔奖得主创造的，而是他们的研究领域涉及了这一现象，属于曲解原文；
C选项“麦当劳最能说明信息差距”，文中明确指出麦当劳餐厅不如二手车市场那样存在信息不对称的现象，属于反向干扰；
D选项“逆向选择是过多广告的结果”在文中没有提及，属于无中生有。
