Question

Although people everywhere seem to enjoy drinking coffee, they don’t all have the same coffee culture. In Europe, for example, coffee shops are common places for people to meet friends and to talk while they drink coffee. On the other hand, places like this were not as common in North America in the past. Instead, people in North America liked to drink coffee in their homes with friends. The coffee culture in the USA changed when Starbucks (星巴克) coffee shops spread across the country.

The first Starbucks coffee shop opened in 1971 in downtown Seattle, Washington, in the USA. It was a small coffee shop that cooked its own coffee beans. The coffee shop’s business did well, and by 1981 there were three Starbucks stores in Seattle.

Things really began to change for the company in 1981. That year, Howard Schultz met the three men who ran Starbucks. Schultz worked in New York for a company that made kitchen equipment. He noticed that Starbucks ordered a large number of special coffee makers, which caused his great interest. Schultz went to Seattle to see what Starbucks did. In 1982, the original Starbucks owners hired Schultz as the company’s head of marketing (市場營銷).

In 1983, Schultz traveled to Italy. The special environment of the espresso (濃咖啡) bars there caught his eyes. Back in the USA, Schultz created an environment for Starbucks coffee shops that was comfortable and casual, and customers everywhere seemed to like it. Starbucks began opening more stores across the USA. Then the company opened coffee shops in other countries as well. Today, there are more than 16,000 Starbucks coffee shops all over the world.

However, that does not mean Starbucks has not had problems. In fact, many Starbucks stores have been closed over the past few years. On the one hand, this is because there were too many coffee shops competing for business in one small area. On the other hand, stores in some countries were closed because the coffee culture there did not match with the “feel the same everywhere” environment offered by Starbucks.

1.The underlined word “ran” in Paragraph 3 probably means “ ”.

A. closed B. managed C. left D. sold

2.According to the passage, which is the right order for the following sentences?

a. Schultz helped to make Starbucks a huge coffee company.

b. Starbucks began as a small coffee company in Seattle in the USA.

c. Schultz went to Seattle to learn about the company and later worked for it.

d. Schultz noticed Starbucks ordered lots of special coffee makers.

A. a-b-d-c B. c-a-b-d C. b-d-c-a D. d-c-a-b

3.Why were so many Starbucks closed in small areas?

A. Because the coffee in these places was too expensive.

B. Because the style of the coffee stores seems the same.

C. Because people like to drink coffee at home with friends.

D. Because there were too many coffee shops in one place.

4.Which of the following shows the right structure of the passage? (P=Paragraph)

A. B. C. D.

Answer 1