Part III Listening and Thinking
A: Passage
Script:
In recent years, most major retailers have opened extremely early and offered promotional sales to kick off the holiday shopping season, similar to Boxing Day sales in many Commonwealth Nations.
Black Friday is the day following Thanksgiving Day in the United States, often regarded as the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. Black Friday is not an official holiday, but many nonretail employees and schools have both Thanksgiving and the day after off, followed by a weekend,thereby increasing the number of potential shoppers. It has been the busiest shopping day of the year.
Retailers may spend an entire year planning their Black Friday sales. The contents of Black Friday advertisements are often highly anticipated that retailers will do their best to ensure that they don’t leak out publicly in advance. They use the day as an opportunity to offer rock-bottom prices on overstock inventory and to offer door busters and discounts on seasonal items, such as holiday decorations and typical holiday gifts. Retailers also offer large discounts for high- priced items as well as the best-selling brands of TVs, smart devices and other electronic products to attract customers,hoping that once they enter, they can buy more profitable items. Consumers usually buy the most popular items when shopping on Black Friday.
近年来，大多数主要零售商都早早开业，并提供促销销售来启动假日购物季，类似于许多英联邦国家的节礼日销售。
黑色星期五是美国感恩节的第二天，通常被认为是圣诞节购物季节的开始。黑色星期五不是法定假日，但许多非零售业的员工和学校都在感恩节和第二天放假，随后是周末，从而增加了潜在的购物者数量。通常，这是一年中最繁忙的购物日。
零售商可能会花费整整一年的时间计划黑色星期五的销售。黑色星期五广告的内容经常受到人们的高度期待，零售商会竭尽全力确保他们不会事先向公众泄漏。他们利用这一天作为提供积压库存底价的机会，并对节日装饰品和典型的节日礼物等季节性物品提供上门促销和折扣。零售商还为高价商品以及电视、智能设备和其他电子产品的最畅销品牌提供大幅折扣，以吸引顾客，希望他们一旦进入，便可以购买利润更高的商品。消费者通常在黑色星期五购物时买到最热门的流行商品。
I. Listen to the passage and write down the missing words.
1. promotional 2. following 3. regarded 4. employees 5. busiest
6. contents 7. opportunity 8. discounts 9. attract 10. items
II. Listen again and answer the following questions.
1. Black Friday is the day following Thanksgiving Day.
2. Because many non-retail employees and schools have both Thanksgiving and the day after off,followed by a weekend, thereby increasing the number of potential shoppers.
B: News Broadcast
Script:
Recently, the voice of saving food has been increasing. For this, Meituan co-published a proposal with a number of business organisations, including the China General Chamber of Commerce and China Cuisine Association, calling on restaurants to stop food waste and help cultivate new eating habits for customers.
“Restaurants should innovate means of publicity using official accounts on social media and livestreaming to promote food-saving actions,” the proposal said.
Meituan and the organisations are proposing that businesses offer guidance for consumers, including reminding them during the ordering process about the taste of the ingredients, portion sizes and other information about the dishes, to help them avoid food waste due to misleading information.
Catering associations in more than 18 provinces have also joined the campaign to reduce food waste.The China Cuisine Association announced that it had teamed up with Ele.me, the Alibaba Group holding-owned food delivery platform, to launch a “half-dish plan”, encouraging restaurants to provide customers with the option to order smaller portions.
To stop food waste on social media platforms, popular Chinese video platforms such as Douyin and Kuaishou have stepped up content reviews of food-related live streams and carried out regulation of online eating shows.
Now if users search certain keywords, such as “eating show” or “competitive eaters”, a prompt message pops up to remind them to cherish food and maintain a reasonable diet.
近来，节约粮食的呼声越来越高。对此，美团与包括中国商业联合会和中国烹饪协会在内的多家机构联合发表了一份倡议书，呼吁餐馆停止浪费食物，帮助顾客培养新的饮食习惯。
倡议书称：“餐厅应该创新宣传手段，利用社交媒体上的官方账号和直播，来宣传和倡导节约食物的行为。”
美团和这些组织倡导商家为消费者提供指引，包括在点菜过程中提醒消费者注意食材的味道、分量大小以及其他有关菜肴的信息，以帮助他们避免因为被信息误导而浪费食物。
超过18个省的餐饮协会也加入了减少食物浪费的行动中。中国烹饪协会宣布与阿里巴巴集团旗下的食品配送平台“饿了么”合作，推出“半份计划”，鼓励餐馆为顾客提供选择，让他们可以点小份菜。
为了遏制社交媒体上的食物浪费现象，抖音、快手等中国热门视频平台都加强了与食品相关的直播内容审查，并对线上饮食节目实施监管。
现在，如果用户搜索某些关键词，比如“吃播”或“大胃王挑战”，就会弹出一条提示信息，提醒用户爱惜食物，保持合理饮食。
Keys:
I. Listen and decide whether the following statements are true (T) or false (F).
1. T 2. F 3. F 4. F 5. T
II. Listen again and answer the following questions.
Reference:
I usually order takeaways on Meituan and Ele.me. I often order small dishes because my appetite is relatively small.
Put the food in the refrigerator in time to keep it fresh to avoid spoiling in advance.
Pack and take away unfinished food when eating out.
Donate more food to friends or neighbours.
Enjoying Movie Clips
In Good Company（优势合作）
Hodan, 51, director of advertising for a leading American magazine, has a happy family. But the company was bought by a big group, and his position was replaced by a 26-year-old new man with no advertising experience. Hodan and the new boss went from being mutually exclusive to fighting side by side.
Practice and Assessment
Unit Project
Work in groups to role-play the following situation to test your integrated skills got in the unit.
Suppose you are John, whose company produces automobile parts. The company has just developed a new product and needs to do a promotional activity after the product launch. You are not sure what to do. Mike, an experienced salesperson, is helping you and he suggests some tips, such as how to introduce products differently, how to attract more customers and so on.
Checking points:
1. Complete content
2. Clear pronunciation
3. Correct expressions
4. Abundant communication
5. Powerful cooperation
6. Proper etiquette