Shoppers on Black Friday, the traditional start of the holiday shopping season in America, are very aggressive. Some even start

D4. Passage Two. Questions 1 to 5 are based on the following passage.

Shoppers on Black Friday, the traditional start of the holiday shopping season in America, are very aggressive. Some even start queuing outside stores before dawn to be the first to lay their hands on heavily discounted goods. Despite the frenzy(疯狂) at many stores, however, the recession appears to have accelerated the pace at which shoppers are abandoning bricks and mortar(实体店) in favor of online retailers — e-tailers. So this year Black Friday also marks the start of many conventional retailers' attempts to regain the initiative.

E-commerce holds particular appeal in straitened times as it enables people to compare prices across retailers quickly and easily. Buyers can sometimes avoid local sales taxes online, and shipping is often free. No wonder, then, that online shopping continues to grow even as the offline sort shrinks.

The shift in spending to the internet is good news for companies like P&G that lack retail outlets of their own. But it is a big concern for brick-and-mortar retailers, whose prices are often higher than those of e-tailers, since they must bear the extra expense of running stores. Happily, however, conventional retailers are in a better position to fight back than last year, when overstocking forced them to resort to destructive discounting.

The most obvious response to the growth of e-tailing is for conventional retailers to redouble their own efforts online. The online arms of big retailers are performing well, on the whole.

Retailers are also trying to make shopping seem fun and exciting to act against the economic gloom. One common tactic is to set up "pop-up"stores, which appear for a short time before vanishing again, to foster a sense of novelty (新奇) and urgency.

Shoppers are increasingly looking for an "experience" when they go to stores，says Jack Anderson of Hornall Anderson, a branding and marketing firm, and are no longer interested in purely "transaction-based bricks and mortar stores". Apple, which encourages customers to try out its devices in its stores, is considered a pioneer of this strategy, and has attracted many imitators. Stores are also trying to lure customers by offering services that are not available online. Best Buy, a consumer-electronics retailer, has started selling music lessons along with its musical instruments. The idea is to bring people back to its shops regularly, increasing the likelihood that they will develop the habit of shopping there.

1.The recession of stores appears to have accelerated because____.

A) stores refuse to give heavy discounts

B) more shoppers turn to online shopping

C) buyers are tired of queuing outside stores

D) customers are not confident in the economy

2.Why is online shopping appealing to customers?____

A) Goods sold online tend to be of higher quality.

B) Online shoppers do not have to pay purchase tax.

C) Many online retailers offer free delivery of goods.

D) Prices are often the lowest for the same goods.

3. What is said about brick-and-mortar stores in the third paragraph?____

A) They start to set up their own online stores.

B) They hold a better situation than last year.

C) They make more profits from higher prices.

D) They are not faced with the problem of overstock.

4. According to the passage, retailers launched "pop-up" stores to____.

A) offer shoppers new and exciting experiences

B) cut down the extra expense of running stores

C) attract customers with destructive discounting

D) let customers learn about their products online

5. What does Best Buy do to win customers back from online retailers?____

A) It encourages consumers to try out its instruments.

B) It provides regular customers with shuttle services.

C) It enables customers to shop via their cell phones.

D) It sells music lessons together with its instruments.