选择知识点

Usually two weeks before Christmas, buying presents is the most important for a lot of people in the UK. However, last year not so many people were leaving their homes to browse in the shops.

    These days lots of people can do their shopping in the comfort of their own home with the help of the Internet.

    Online shopping is becoming more and more popular for a number of reasons: Goods are often cheaper online, and you don’t have to queue up in busy shops and you can buy almost any product imaginable with just a few clicks of your mouse.

    Computer trends are often male-dominated but last year women did more shopping on the Internet than men. It seemed women were more attracted to the convenience of online shopping than they used to be. Average spending online last Christmas by women rose to ￡240 compared to the slightly lower average of ￡233 for men, while the average expense per person on the high street was on ly ￡197. Seventy percent of Internet users, male and female, are now buying their Christmas gifts online.

    In the past a lot of people were unwilling to shop online. Many were worried about the security of entering their card details on the Internet and the reliability of the Internet, but as shopping online has become more widespread, these worries have begun to disappear. 45% of Internet users still do have security worries but it hasn’t slowed down the ever-increasing numbers of online shoppers.

    There are lots of special offers in the high street shops during Christmas because of the influence of the online shopping. They are concerned that not enough shoppers are coming through their doors. Most shops traditionally have sales after Christmas, but last year the bargains had come early in an attempt to attract consumers to spend.

What would be the best title for the passage?

C

It is well known that the Japanese people’s love of fish is almost as a bee’s interest in honey. As fish populations were decreasing, fishing companies were forced to fish further and further away from the shore. Then they had a big challenge(挑战)－how to keep the fish fresh for longer. So they decided to keep the fish stored in freezers on the boats. But the public did not like f rozen fish. So again the fishing companies had a new bigger challenge. What they decided to do was to have fish tanks on their boats. After catching fishes, they would put them in the tanks and keep them living there until they got back to shore. But in this protected environment, lacking predators (掠食者)，the fish stopped moving around. The Japanese public felt these dull fish did not taste fresh, which had an unpleasant effect upon sales. Once again the fishing companies had an even bigger challenge.

Stop for a minute! Before we go any further, I would like to ask “What are your challenges? How do you handle an unexpected challenge?” May I think it this way that you should try to attack your challenges? Conquer（战胜）them with a Swiss Army knife. Take the most proper and simple tool that you can adopt to deal with your situation.

Now back to our story. How did the Japanese finally figure out the fresh fish problem？Sharks! You might think the same. Sharks were caught and put into the tanks with other fishes. Don’t sharks eat fish? Well, they do eat a few fish, but they did also keep more fish active and alert (警觉的). The fish stay fresh because they are challenged.

Now, try to keep yourself fresh by finding your own sharkto offer yourself a challenge in your own business and career.

   — Oh, it ______ sharply since last month.