Вопрос № 860667 - Английский язык

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The Business of Weddings
1. Though the odds may be barely in their favor, every couple who goes to the altar believes that they will make that trip only once in their lives. They want the day to be perfect, and they are asking for much more than good weather. They want the most beautiful clothes, the freshest flowers, the prettiest music, and the best food. No one, especially not the bride — nor her family who will foot the bill — is in any mood to economize.
2. A quick look at any bride magazine will reveal that plenty of attractive goods and services compete for a share of the wedding budget. Beside the obvious choices of rings, dresses, flowers, and photographs, there are the less apparent expenses: a lavish cake, a rehearsal dinner, a reception, music for both the ceremony and the reception, tips, and even napkins and matchbooks printed with the couple's names and the wedding date.
3. As the arrangements are generally complicated, there are plenty of services that can be hired to help with the planning and execution of the ceremony. There is also an amazing amount of free advice covering every aspect of the wedding: planning the photographs, selecting the wedding rings, choosing the flowers, picking the honeymoon spot, and so on. One magazine lists over 350 such pamphlets that can be had for the asking, published of course by businesses who have something to offer. Considering that weddings do more than 12 billion dollars worth of business annually in the U.S. alone, such activity isn't surprising.
4. What is surprising, is that no one company dominates the industry. It seems that when people plan for a day as special to them as a wedding, they resist standardization. They turn instead to the small local suppliers known to them or to their friends. Family members or friends often serve as photographers, caterers and musicians. This not only helps bring the wedding cost down, it makes it more personal. What about the couple that doesn't want to take part in this billion dollar industry? They can go to city hall and get married for less than the price of a hamburger.
(World English)
Определите основную идею текста.

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The Business of Weddings
1. Though the odds may be barely in their favor, every couple who goes to the altar believes that they will make that trip only once in their lives. They want the day to be perfect, and they are asking for much more than good weather. They want the most beautiful clothes, the freshest flowers, the prettiest music, and the best food. No one, especially not the bride — nor her family who will foot the bill — is in any mood to economize.
2. A quick look at any bride magazine will reveal that plenty of attractive goods and services compete for a share of the wedding budget. Beside the obvious choices of rings, dresses, flowers, and photographs, there are the less apparent expenses: a lavish cake, a rehearsal dinner, a reception, music for both the ceremony and the reception, tips, and even napkins and matchbooks printed with the couple's names and the wedding date.
3. As the arrangements are generally complicated, there are plenty of services that can be hired to help with the planning and execution of the ceremony. There is also an amazing amount of free advice covering every aspect of the wedding: planning the photographs, selecting the wedding rings, choosing the flowers, picking the honeymoon spot, and so on. One magazine lists over 350 such pamphlets that can be had for the asking, published of course by businesses who have something to offer. Considering that weddings do more than 12 billion dollars worth of business annually in the U.S. alone, such activity isn't surprising.
4. What is surprising, is that no one company dominates the industry. It seems that when people plan for a day as special to them as a wedding, they resist standardization. They turn instead to the small local suppliers known to them or to their friends. Family members or friends often serve as photographers, caterers and musicians. This not only helps bring the wedding cost down, it makes it more personal. What about the couple that doesn't want to take part in this billion dollar industry? They can go to city hall and get married for less than the price of a hamburger.
(World English)
Определите, какое утверждение не соответствует содержанию текста.

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International Business – With a Twist
1. Some of the world's most accommodating businessmen specialize in getting you what you want at a fair market price. But they're businessmen with a difference — they're smugglers who deal only in what's illegal. A smuggling operation is complex, so it has to be businesslike. It has managers who plan trips, make deals, and arrange for purchases and pick-ups. It has travelers who deliver the goods, and specialists who recruit and train them. In fact, smugglers frequently have legitimate businesses on the side. A travel agency is helpful because the modern smuggler is a world traveler. When a gold smuggler was arrested recently, he had airline tickets "from Geneva to Bangkok by way of Frankfurt, Nicosia, Istanbul, Beirut, Vancouver, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Manila, and Jakarta."
2. The best places for smuggling operations are border cities and seaports. In one such city, annual sales at local stores amounted to $6,900 for every person in town. But the average person only made $3,575 per year. A tiny seaport is the world's third largest importer of Swiss watches — every year, it buys 50 watches for every person in the city. Obviously, the people in these cities are not buying all this merchandise — it is being bought by smugglers.
3. As one expert wrote, "the ingenuity of the smuggler's mind is virtually limitless." In addition to special vests for carrying gold, there are other types of smuggling equipment. A diplomat was arrested in London with 298 watches sewn into his coat lining. British officials discovered a car with a special gas tank containing 2,581 illegal watches. But some smugglers don't need special equipment. A good diamond smuggler can hide two or three small diamonds in his mouth and still carry on a normal conversation.
4. What makes people smuggle? Profit is definitely a motive. Over $1.5 billion in illegal gold alone is smuggled every year, not to mention a multi-million dollar art smuggling trade and a thriving business in illegal diamonds. But many smugglers love excitement as much as profit. As one said, "You don't feel happy unless you have a line open and somebody making a run for you".
(World English)
Ответьте на вопрос
Why do you think smuggling business hasn’t been stopped yet?

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Marketing Magic
1. Why would anyone who lives in a city where the drinking water is clean, good-tasting, and free of charge pay $1.50 for a glass of bottled water? Odd though it may seem, this is a daily occurrence in New York City and has been since 1977, when Perrier water was first introduced in the United States. Perrier, a lightly carbonated water from the south of France, is chic. It became that way because the company that bottles Perrier had a very smart marketing strategy.
2. A marketing strategy is a plan for presenting a product so that it will be as attractive as possible to potential buyers, regardless of any intrinsic merits the product may have. Before Perrier came to the United States, Americans rarely drank bottled water, and then only when they feared the local water supply was contaminated. But the Perrier people changed that by appealing to Americans who were highly conscious of three things: health, weight, and fashion. Perrier was presented as a sparkling, natural drink, free of alcohol and other dangerous chemicals. But not only was it good for you, it was French. Therefore it was sophisticated as only a French drinking water could be. With this strategy, Perrier sold over 40 million bottles of water in the United States in one year.
3. Another example of marketing magic is "designer jeans." For over a hundred years, miners, farmers, and cowboys have worn jeans because they were made of sturdy blue denim that didn't wear out. They were simply the best work pants in the world.
4. But a Hong Kong businessman, Mohan Murjani, wasn't interested in selling something practical and durable. For him, jeans were a marketing problem and he wanted a new way of presenting them to the public. He decided to make a new kind of jeans, not for working cowboys, but for people who wanted to look glamorous. And Murjani succeeded. By 1978, 17% of all jeans sold were tight-fitting designer jeans. They cost no more to make than cowboy jeans, but they sold for four or five times as much. Why? Because people will pay more for fashion than they will for work clothes. And if the marketing strategy is right, anything can be made fashionable.
(World English)
Укажите, в какой части текста (1, 2, 3, 4) содержится ответ на вопрос
How much does a glass of Perrier cost?

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The Business of Weddings
1. Though the odds may be barely in their favor, every couple who goes to the altar believes that they will make that trip only once in their lives. They want the day to be perfect, and they are asking for much more than good weather. They want the most beautiful clothes, the freshest flowers, the prettiest music, and the best food. No one, especially not the bride — nor her family who will foot the bill — is in any mood to economize.
2. A quick look at any bride magazine will reveal that plenty of attractive goods and services compete for a share of the wedding budget. Beside the obvious choices of rings, dresses, flowers, and photographs, there are the less apparent expenses: a lavish cake, a rehearsal dinner, a reception, music for both the ceremony and the reception, tips, and even napkins and matchbooks printed with the couple's names and the wedding date.
3. As the arrangements are generally complicated, there are plenty of services that can be hired to help with the planning and execution of the ceremony. There is also an amazing amount of free advice covering every aspect of the wedding: planning the photographs, selecting the wedding rings, choosing the flowers, picking the honeymoon spot, and so on. One magazine lists over 350 such pamphlets that can be had for the asking, published of course by businesses who have something to offer. Considering that weddings do more than 12 billion dollars worth of business annually in the U.S. alone, such activity isn't surprising.
4. What is surprising, is that no one company dominates the industry. It seems that when people plan for a day as special to them as a wedding, they resist standardization. They turn instead to the small local suppliers known to them or to their friends. Family members or friends often serve as photographers, caterers and musicians. This not only helps bring the wedding cost down, it makes it more personal. What about the couple that doesn't want to take part in this billion dollar industry? They can go to city hall and get married for less than the price of a hamburger.
(World English)
Укажите, какой части текста (1, 2, 3, 4) содержится ответ на вопрос
What are some typical wedding goods and services?

Прочитайте текст и выполните задания
International Business – With a Twist
1. Some of the world's most accommodating businessmen specialize in getting you what you want at a fair market price. But they're businessmen with a difference — they're smugglers who deal only in what's illegal. A smuggling operation is complex, so it has to be businesslike. It has managers who plan trips, make deals, and arrange for purchases and pick-ups. It has travelers who deliver the goods, and specialists who recruit and train them. In fact, smugglers frequently have legitimate businesses on the side. A travel agency is helpful because the modern smuggler is a world traveler. When a gold smuggler was arrested recently, he had airline tickets "from Geneva to Bangkok by way of Frankfurt, Nicosia, Istanbul, Beirut, Vancouver, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Manila, and Jakarta."
2. The best places for smuggling operations are border cities and seaports. In one such city, annual sales at local stores amounted to $6,900 for every person in town. But the average person only made $3,575 per year. A tiny seaport is the world's third largest importer of Swiss watches — every year, it buys 50 watches for every person in the city. Obviously, the people in these cities are not buying all this merchandise — it is being bought by smugglers.
3. As one expert wrote, "the ingenuity of the smuggler's mind is virtually limitless." In addition to special vests for carrying gold, there are other types of smuggling equipment. A diplomat was arrested in London with 298 watches sewn into his coat lining. British officials discovered a car with a special gas tank containing 2,581 illegal watches. But some smugglers don't need special equipment. A good diamond smuggler can hide two or three small diamonds in his mouth and still carry on a normal conversation.
4. What makes people smuggle? Profit is definitely a motive. Over $1.5 billion in illegal gold alone is smuggled every year, not to mention a multi-million dollar art smuggling trade and a thriving business in illegal diamonds. But many smugglers love excitement as much as profit. As one said, "You don't feel happy unless you have a line open and somebody making a run for you".
(World English)
Укажите, какой части текста (1, 2, 3, 4) содержится ответ на вопрос
How do smugglers hide the illegal goods they carry?