Market analysts in the United States have recently been quoted as saying that th

Market analysts in the United States have recentlybeen quoted as saying that the biggest threat to the luxury (奢侈品) industry in the US is the tech industry. This isaccording to an article by fellow journalist Ashley Lutz. Her suggestion issound. The main idea of her article is that products from Tiffany & Co.find their biggest competition not from other luxury brands but from companieslike Apple. Lutz points out that luxury products are often only for “show,”while the attraction behind tech products is functionality.

You find few people in the United States today willingto purchase luxury goods at full price. It didn’t use to be that way. Luxurygoods used to be actually exclusive. That meant you needed to travel tothe right store to purchase them, and you didn’t even have the option ofgetting a deal.

Today, no one wants to pay full price for luxurygoods. People have the unfortunate belief that fakes (赝品) somehow are equal to originals, and if you can’t geta deal on eBay, Amazon, or in an outlet store, purchasing a luxury productprobably isn’t worth it. Luxury brands struggle to remain high-end (高档的) images despite the reality that the Americanconsumer is motivated much more by discounts than they are by brand names orimage.

Yet people stand in line to pay full price for a newproduct from Apple and crowds gather to hear about a new smart phone. Whileelectronics are updating every day, people are purchasing technology at fullprices much more than they are purchasing luxury goods. What are high-techmakers doing right that luxury makers are pitifully failing at?

Carefully looking at the situation, it would appear asif the Internet didn’t hurt the luxury industry, expectation from the consumersdid. What people want these days more than anything is stuff that doessomething. They want cars that drive, shoes that are comfortable, games thatare fun to play, screens that are beautiful to look at, tools that are useful,and entertainment that is entertaining. Little of that fits into what the luxuryindustry has typically offered with its status, image, and fine materials. Thesad reality is that luxury products aren’t that luxury any more.

1.What does this passage mainly talk about?

A. Nobody likes luxury goods any more.

B. Luxury goods are of poor quality nowadays.

C. Tech products become the new “luxury goods”.

D. Iphones have taken the place of luxury products.

2.The underlined word “exclusive” in paragraph 2 means_______.

A. unique and with no bargain    B. lowin price

C. hard to find     D. easy tosell

3.From paragraph 3 we can know that _______.

A. people have found that some luxury goods are fakes

B. people can buy luxury goods at a low price on eBay

C. luxury brands will give up high-end images

D. consumers prefer brand names to discounts

4.What do people pay most attention to nowadays?

A. The Internet service.     B.The images of luxuries.

C. The function of products.      D.The expectation from the consumers.

试题答案

【答案】

1.C

2.A

3.B

4.C

【解析】

试题