Shopping therapy has long been considered as a good way to let off stress. Now, US scientists have discovered not only does shopping therapy exist, but that it could be caused by an individual's fear of sudden death. Researchers found materialistic people thought terrorism and war more stressful than others.
Psychologists believe the rise of materialism around the world and its treatment effect on extreme stress might be a response to fear of death caused by acts of terrorism, disease and natural disasters.
The scientists from Michigan State University said people with possession obsessions often have lower self-esteem than others so are more likely to shop as the result of severe psychological suffering.
Ayalla Ruvio, a business professor studying people's shopping habits while rockets fell in Israel, said, "When the going gets tough, the materialistic people go shopping. This stress spending is likely to produce even greater stress and lower well-being. Essentially, materialism appears to make bad events even worse."
Dr Ruvio led a two-part study of Israeli citizens living in a town that came under extreme rocket attacks for about six months in 2013. She compared 139 residents of the southern town with 170 from another town that was not under attack to see how their symptoms of post-traumatic stress and shopping habits varied. Dr Ruvio found that, when faced with a deadly threat, those who are highly materialistic suffered much higher levels of stress, while their tendency to shop was increased.
Dr Ruvio said, "The relationship between materialism and stress be more harmful than commonly thought."
The second stage of their research surveyed 855 Americans about their materialistic nature and fear of death. They found shopping was used to relieve feelings of stress and anxiety about death but this was in response to fear of a variety of life-threatening events like car accidents, criminal attacks and natural disasters.
【小题1】Which of the following opinion is NOT right according to the text?A.Terrorism is believed to easily cause the rise of materialism |
B.The materialistic find terrorism and war more stressful than others. |
C.The scientists think people with possession obsessions suffer a lot mentally. |
D.The scientists think possession obsessions help people get self-respect. |
A.Impulsive spending does good to people's health. |
B.Faced with great stress, people feel hopeless for life. |
C.Shopping can't lower one's stress as it is expected. |
D.Faced with threat, people's wish to shop will decrease. |
① Greater stress; ② Car accidents; ③ Criminal attacks; ④ Natural disaster;
A.①②③ | B.②③④ | C.①②④ | D.①③④ |
A.Can greater stress lead of the passage? |
B.Does shopping help lead to shopping? |
C.Is shopping very important in people's life? |
D.Can shopping reduce stress and relieve the fear of death? |
Do you like shopping? Or does the thought of wandering round the shops fill you with terror? For some of us, shopping is an enjoyable way of spending our spare time and our money. For me, it’s something I would rather avoid. Thank goodness for the Internet! It’s more convenient to buy CDs, electrical items, and even food from the comfort of your sofa. But that’s not the only reason: price is an important factor. We can buy goods and services cheaper online. But sometimes the problem is knowing what to buy. This has led to a type of shopping called “showrooming”.
Showrooming is something I’ve done. I will go to a shop to see, touch and try out products but then go home and buy them online at a knock-down price. I’m not alone in doing this. Research by a company called Foolproof found 24% of the people showroomed at Christmas in 2013.
Amy Cashman, Head of Technology at TNS UK, says the reasons for this new shopping habit are that people are lacking time, lacking money and they want security about the products they are buying. She explains that consumers are not only shopping online at home but they are using the Internet in store or on their smart phones to shop around.
But does this mean technology will kill shops? Certainly shops will change. They will have to offer more competitive prices or encourage people to buy more by giving in-store discounts or free gifts.
We mustn’t forget that buying in a shop means you can get expert advice from the sales assistant and you can get good aftercare. It’s good to speak to a real human rather than look at a faceless computer screen, but at least by showrooming, you get the best of both worlds.
【小题1】The two questions in Paragraph 1 are raised to ________.A.introduce the topic |
B.give two examples |
C.compare different opinions |
D.get answers from readers |
A.Trying in shops and buying online. |
B.Showing products in a room. |
C.Buying something in a store. |
D.Shopping on the Internet. |
A.The lack of time. |
B.The comfort of the sofa. |
C.The lack of money. |
D.The security of the product. |
A.Online shops will disappear. |
B.Free gifts will surely promote sales. |
C.Shops need necessary changes. |
D.Shops will be replaced by online shops. |
“Regardless of social class, race and age, men say they hate to shop,” says Zukin, City University of New York sociology professor. “Yet when you ask them deeper questions, it turns out that they like to shop. Men generally like to shop for books, music and hardware. But if you ask them about the shopping they do for books or music, they'll say, ‘Well, that's not shopping. That's research.’”
In other words, what men and women call “buying things” and how they approach that task are different.
Women will wander through several 1,000squaremetre stores in search of the perfect party dress. Men will wander through 100 Internet sites in search of the perfect digital camcorder. Women see shopping as a social event. Men see it as a special task or a game to be won.
“Men are frequently shopping to win,” says Ann, a marketing professor at Loyola University of Chicago. “They want to get the best deal. They want to get the best and latest one and if they do that, it makes them happy. When women shop, they're doing it in a way that they want everybody to be very happy,” says Ann. “They're kind of shopping for love.”
“Teenage girls learn to shop from their mums and elder sisters, and they also learn to shop by examining articles in magazines like Seventeen,” Zukin says. “And although men's magazines such as GQ and Esquire have long had shopping articles, it's TV that has the eye of young male shoppers,” say Ann and Zukin.
“Television shows are used by young men in the same way Seventeen or Lucky is used by girls,” says Zukin, “to help make clothing and toiletry choices.”
“Of course, there are men who love to shop and are proud of it,” Ann says. And that is important no matter whether you buy a car or a frying pan. All men love to buy but don't want to get cheated. Ann adds, “There actually are men who are interested, for example, in cooking or shopping or chinaware or things around the home-they become kind of girl magnets. Women like it.”
【小题1】From the first paragraph we can find that .A.men like to shop in fact | B.men are all dishonest |
C.men hate to shop actually | D.men are all booklovers |
A.honestly | B.frequently | C.seriously | D.foolishly |
A.only with their sisters | B.often following magazines |
C.only with their mums | D.often following TV shows |
A.vegetables that make women beautiful | B.magazines that attract young women |
C.persons that have a powerful attraction | D.tools that can help housewives much |
Chinese consumers’ crazy appetite for luxury goods and services appears unstoppable, with just 2 percent of the Chinese population responsible for one-third of the world’s luxury items.
As China’s economic miracle develops, the market opportunities for all sorts of luxury goods and services are increasing. Luxury consumption in China now extends ways beyond well-known car, clothing and jewelry brands. For example, the luxury jet market in China is the fastest-growing in the world, even outstripping that of the United States, with a market share of 25 percent. This trend appears to continue, with 20 to 30 percent growth expected in China, compared with only 2 to 3 percent in the US. But more importantly, China’s luxury jet market growth represents a major development in the private consumption of luxury items.
China’s high-quality red wine market also provides evidence of the growth in private consumption of luxury goods. In 2013, China became the largest market for red wine in the world, even overtaking France, with l.86 billion bottles consumed in China last year. Over the past five years, China’s red wine consumption has grown 136 percent.
According to my ongoing consumer research in this area while working at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, public consumption of such expensive global luxury brands such as Prada and Armani is easily explained by the desire to “gain face” and publicly display social climbing through material possessions. On the other hand, it is “self-reward” that lies behind consumer motivation in this area. Chinese consumers who have experienced rapid financial and economic gains appear particularly prone to the need to reward themselves for their success. But this has little to do with ”gaining face” and impressing others and much more to do with the need for personal contentment.
Finally, the growth in private luxury consumption in China is set to continue in part due to the maturity of the Chinese consumer and advancement of Chinese consumer culture generally.
【小题1】What do you think the author would most probably be?A.A news reporter. | B.An accountant. |
C.A professor. | D.A conductor. |
A.China’s luxury jet market growth is only 2% to 3%. |
B.France was once the largest market for red wine in the world before 2013. |
C.The luxury jet market in the US shares 25% of the jet consumption in the world. |
D.China’s red wine consumption has increased to 1.86 billion bottles since 2013. |
A.public consumption of global luxury brands is increasing. |
B.Chinese consumers have experienced rapid financial and economic gains. |
C.Chinese consumers enjoy “gain face” and “self-reward”. |
D.the reason why Chinese consumers are fond of the global luxury goods. |
A.Future Private Luxury Consumption in China |
B.Chinese Appetite for Luxury Goods and Services |
C.The Potential Luxury Jet Market in China |
D.The Maturity of the Chinese Consumers |
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