Question

No one knows for sure when advertising first started. It is possible that it grew out of the discovery that some people did certain kinds of work better than others did them. That led to the concept of specialization, which means that people would specialize, or focus, on doing one specific job.

Let's take a man we'll call Mr. Fielder, for example. He did everything connected with farming. He planted seeds, tended the fields, and harvested and sold his crops. At the same time, he did many other jobs on the farm. However, he didn't make the bricks for his house, cut his trees into boards, make the plows(犁), or any of the other hundreds of things a farm needs. Instead, he got them from people who specialized in doing each of those things.

Suppose there was another man we shall call Mr. Plowright. Using what he knew about farming and working with iron, Mr. Plowright invented a plow that made farming easier. Mr. Plowright did not really like farming himself and wanted to specialize in making really good plows. Perhaps, he thought, other farmers will trade what they grow for one of my plows.

How did Mr. Plowright let people know what he was doing? Why, he advertised, of course. First he opened a shop and then he put up a sign outside the shop to attract customers. That sign may have been no more than a plow carved into a piece of wood and a simple arrow pointing to the shop door. It was probably all the information people needed to find Mr. Plowright and his really good plows.

Many historians believe that the first outdoor signs were used about five thousand years ago. Even before most people could read, they understood such signs. Shopkeepers would carve into stone, clay, or wood symbols for the products they had for sale.

A medium, in advertising talk, is the way you communicate your message. You might say that the first medium used in advertising was signs with symbols. The second medium was audio, or sound, although that term is not used exactly in the way we use it today. Originally, just the human voice and maybe some kind of simple instrument, such as a bell, were used to get people's attention.

A crier, in the historical sense, is not someone who weeps easily. It is someone, probably a man, with a voice loud enough to be heard over the other noises of a city. In ancient Egypt, shopkeepers might hire such a person to spread the news about their products. Often this earliest form of advertising involved a newly arrived ship loaded with goods. Perhaps the crier described the goods, explained where they came from, and praised their quality. His job was, in other words, not too different from a TV or radio commercial in today's world.

1.What probably led to the start of advertising?

A．The discovery of iron.

B．The specialization of labor.

C．The appearance of new jobs.

D．The development of farming techniques.

2.To advertise his plows, Mr. Plowright ________.

A．praised his plows in public

B．placed a sign outside the shop

C．hung an arrow pointing to the shop

D．showed his products to the customers

3.The writer makes up the two stories of Mr. Fielder and Mr. Plowright in order to ________.

A．explain the origin of advertising

B．predict the future of advertising

C．expose problems in advertising

D．provide suggestions for advertising

4.In ancient Egypt, a crier was probably someone who ________.

A．owned a ship

B．had the loudest voice

C．ran a shop selling goods to farmers

D．functioned like today's TV or radio commercial

5.The last two paragraphs are mainly about ________.

A．the history of advertising

B．the benefits of advertising

C．the early forms of advertising

D．the basic design of advertising

 

Answer 1

1.B

2.B

3.A

4.D

5.C

【解析】什么是廣告，廣告的目的是什么？它最早是怎么開始的呢？讓我們讀文章去了解一下吧。

1.答案：B　細節(jié)理解題。從文章第一段“No one knows for sure...did certain kinds of work better than others did them.”可知勞動專業(yè)化促使廣告的產生，故答案為B項。

2.2】答案：B　細節(jié)理解題。從文章第四段中的“then he put up a sign outside the shop to attract customers”可知，Mr.Plowright放了一塊指示牌在外面以吸引顧客，所以選B項。

3.3】答案：A　推理判斷題。從第五段中的“Many historians believe that the first outdoor signs were used about five thousand years ago.Even before most people could read，they understood such signs.”可知，作者舉這兩個例子是為了簡述廣告的起源，所以答案選A項。

4.4】答案：D　推理判斷題。從全文最后一段中的“His job was，in other words，not too different from a TV or radio commercial in today's world.”可知，古代埃及的crier如同現(xiàn)代社會電視和廣播中的商業(yè)廣告，所以答案選D項。

5.5】答案：C　段落大意題。從最后兩段中的“A medium，in advertising talk，is the way you communicate your message.”和“A crier，in the historical sense，is not someone who weeps easily.”可知，最后兩段主要討論了早期商業(yè)廣告的形式，所以選C項。

疑難詞匯解讀

1．concept n．概念；觀念

At the time，I thought that the whole concept of cloning was immoral.那時，我認為所有關于克隆的想法都是不道德的。

2．originally adv.本來，原來

The store was originally quite small.這家店原來非常小。

長難句子分析

That led to the concept of specialization，which means that people would specialize，or focus，on doing one specific job.

分析：本句為復合句。主句是That led to the concept of specialization，定語從句為which means that people would specialize，or focus，on doing one specific job。同時定語從句中又包含賓語從句that people would specialize，or focus，on doing one specific job。

句意：那就導致了專業(yè)化這個概念的產生，這意味著人們會專門研究或者說關注某個特定的工作。