Step 1: Intensive reading.
Try to answer the question below while you’re reading:
Question: Who won the prize for the biggest biscuit?
Vocabulary:
influence v. 影响
pride v. 骄傲
taste n. 鉴赏力
exert v. 施加
subtle adj. 微妙的，难以捉摸的
advertiser n. 做广告的人
classify v. 分类
magic adj. 有奇妙作用的
sample n. 样品
devise v. 设计，想出
capture v. 吸引，赢得
manufacturer n. 生产厂家，制造商
wheelbarrow n. 独轮手推车
boot n. （汽车尾部的）行李箱
ingredient n. 配料
crane n. 起重机
anticipate v. 预期，预料
Passage:
No one can avoid being influenced by advertisements. Much as we may pride
ourselves on our good taste, we are no longer free to choose the things we want, for
advertising exerts a subtle influence on us. In their efforts to persuade us to buy this or
that product, advertisers have made a close study of human nature and have classified
all our little weaknesses.
没有人能避免受广告的影响。尽管我们可以自夸自己的鉴赏力如何敏锐，但我们
已经无法独立自主地选购自己所需的东西了。这是因为广告在我们身上施加着一
种潜移默化的影响。做广告的人在力图劝说我们买下这种产品或那种产品之前，
已经仔细地研究了人的本性，并把人的弱点进行了分类。
Notes:
1 No one can avoid being influenced by advertisements.
没有人能避免受广告的影响。
avoid 一词需接动名词作宾语， being influenced 是动名词一般式的被动形式。
Advertisers discovered years ago that all of us love to get something for nothing. An
advertisement which begins with the magic word FREE can rarely go wrong. These
days, advertisers not only offer free samples, but free cars, free houses, and free trips
round the world as well. They devise hundreds of competitions which will enable us
to win huge sums of money. Radio and television have made it possible for
advertisers to capture the attention of millions of people in this way.
做广告的人们多年前就发现我们大家都喜欢免费得到东西。凡是用“免费”这个神
奇的词开头的广告很少会失败的。目前，做广告的人不仅提供免费样品，而且还
提供免费汽车，免费住房，免费周游世界。他们设计数以百计的竞赛，竞赛中有
人可赢得巨额奖金。电台、电视使做广告的人可以用这种手段吸引成百万人的注
意力。
Notes:
2 Much as we may pride ourselves… ，尽管我们可以自夸 …… ，虽然我们可以
为……而感到自豪。
这是一个让步状语从句，连词 much as 可以译成“虽然很……”
3 get something for nothing，免费得到。
During a radio programme, a company of biscuit manufacturers once asked listeners
to bake biscuits and send them to their factory. They offered to pay ＄10 a pound for
the biggest biscuit baked by a listener. The response to this competition was
tremendous. Before long, biscuits of all shapes and sizes began arriving at the factory.
One lady brought in a biscuit on a wheelbarrow. It weighed nearly 500 pounds. A
little later, a man came along with a biscuit which occupied the whole boot of his car.
All the biscuits that were sent were carefully weighed. The largest was 713 pounds. It
seemed certain that this would win the prize. But just before the competition closed, a
lorry arrived at the factory with a truly colossal biscuit which weighed 2, 400 pounds.
It had been baked by a college student who had used over 1, 000 pounds of flour, 800
pounds of sugar, 200 pounds of fat, and 400 pounds of various other ingredients. It
was so heavy that a crane had to be used to remove it from the lorry. The
manufacturers had to pay more money than they had anticipated, for they bought the
biscuit from the student for ＄ 24, 000.
有一次，在电台播放的节目里，一个生产饼干的公司请听众自己烘制饼干送到他
们的工厂去。他们愿意以每磅 10 美元的价钱买下由听众烘制的最大的饼干。这
次竞赛在听众中引起了极其热烈的反响。不久，形状各异、大小不一的饼干陆续
送到了工厂。一位女士用手推车运来一个饼干，重达 500 磅左右。相隔不一会儿，
一个男子也带来一个大饼干，那饼干把汽车的行李箱挤得满满的。凡送来的饼干
都仔细地称量。最重的一个达 713 磅，看来这个饼干获奖无疑了。但就在竞赛截
止时间将到之际，一辆卡车驶进了工厂，运来了一个特大无比、重达 2400 磅的
饼干。它是由一个大学生烘制的，用去 1000 多磅面粉、800 磅食糖、200 磅动物
脂肪及 400 磅其他各种原料。饼干份量太重了，用了一台起重机才把它从卡车上
卸下。饼干公司不得不付出比他们预计多得多的钱，因为为买下那学生烘制的饼
干他们支付了 24000 美元。
Notes:
4 go wrong，出差错，出毛病。
5 the response to this competition，对这一竞赛的反响。
26.2【阅读理解】Wanted: a large biscuit tin
Step 2: Comprehension questions.
Comprehension:
1Are we free to choose the things we want any longer? (No, we aren't.)
2 What does advertising exert on us? (A subtle influence.)
3 Have advertisers made a close study of human nature? (Yes, they have.)
4 What have they classified? (All our little weaknesses.)
5 What do we all love to get? (Something for nothing.)
6 If an advertisement begins with the magic word FREE, what can happen? (It can
rarely go wrong)
7 What do advertisers offer nowadays as well as free samples? (Free cars, free houses
and free trips round the world.)
8 What do they devise to enable us to win huge sums of money? (Hundreds of
competitions.)
9 What did the biscuit manufacturers ask listeners to do? (Bake biscuits and send
them to the factory.)
10 What did they offer? (To pay $10 a pound for the biggest biscuit baked by a
listener.)
11 Was the response tremendous? (Yes, it was.)
12 How did one lady bring in a biscuit? (On a wheelbarrow.)
13 How much did it weigh? (Nearly 500 pounds.)
14 What happened to all the biscuits that were sent? (They were carefully weighed.)
15 How much did the largest weigh? (713 pounds.)
16 What arrived at the factory just before the competition closed? (A lorry.)
17 What was on the lorry? (A colossal biscuit which weighed 2,400 pounds.)
18 Who had made it? (A college student.)
19 What had he used to make it? (1,000 pounds of flour, 800 pounds of sugar ， 200
pounds of fat and 400 pounds of other ingredients.)
20 What had to be used to take the biscuit off the lorry? (A crane.)
21 How much did the company have to pay the student? ($24,000.)
26.3【拓展写作】Wanted: a large biscuit tin
Step 3: Composition
In not more than 250 words describe a radio show organized by a firm of soap
manufacturers. Use the ideas given below and provide a suitable title.
Introduction: A member of the audience will be asked a maximum often questions.
Each time he answers a question correctly, he may accept a money prize or ask for a
more difficult question. The minimum prize is £2 for a correct answer to the first
question. This goes on doubling itself, reaching a maximum of £2,048 for ten correct
answers.
Development and Conclusion: Man being questioned in front of audience —
questions of all types (e.g. spelling difficult words, general knowledge, etc.).
Excitement mounts up as man answers question after question until he reaches the last
one.
Key to composition
The last question
One evening I listened to a quiz show on the radio which was organised by a firm
of soap manufacturers. A member of the audience was invited to answer ten questions
to win money. He could take a money prize after each correct answer or go on to a
more difficult question. Each new question was worth twice the last question.
The man was very nervous in front of the audience, but he got the first question
right Then he slowly answered all the questions correctly--spelling questions, history
questions, general knowledge, mathematics…The audience was getting very excited
as the question master got to question number 9.
‘And your ninth question, he said, is worth £1,024. Here it is. Which
nineteenth-century sailing ship won a race from Shanghai to England?"
“It was the Thermopylae,” the man said confidently. “She beat the Cutty Sark.”
‘Correct,” said the question master, and the audience went mad. The question
master had to ask them to be quiet.
‘And here is your tenth and last question,” the host said, ‘which is worth £2,048
exactly. “Advertisement”: how do you spell it?”
The man paused and then said: ‘I think this is a trick question. I can spell
“advertisement”，but I can also spell “it”. The answer is “I-T”.’
‘You're absolutely right,’ the host said, ‘and you have won £2,048!
Congratulations!’
课外练习：
1 What among other things enables advertisers to sell a product more easily?
(a) Knowing that we will buy anything provided it tastes good.
(b) Giving every customer something free with each product he buys.
(c) Having so many free things all over the world to tempt people
(d) Having radio and television at their disposal to promote their products.
2 The people who entered the competition did so because .
(a) they wanted to get something for nothing
(b) they hoped by winning easily to cover the cost of the baking ingredients
(c) they hoped to receive the prize money of ＄24,000
(d) the manufacturers had offered free biscuits to anyone who entered
3 What had the manufacturers failed to anticipate?
(a) The number of people who would take an interest in the competition.
(b) The number of ingredients required to bake a large biscuit with.
(c) That it was a possible to bake a biscuit as large as the student's.
(d) That there was time to bake a huge biscuit before the competition closed.
4 of our good taste, we are no longer…
(a) So proud may we be
(b) Although we may pride ourselves a great deal
(c) Proud as we may be
(d) Pride ourselves as we may.
5 - discovered years ago that all of us something for nothing.
(a) are loving to get
(b) love getting
(c) love to be getting
(d) love when we get
6 An advertisement can rarely go wrong with the magic word FREE.
(a) which begins
(b) to begin
(c) if it will begin
(d) what begins
7 It was nearly 500 pounds .
(a) weighed
(b) weighing
(c) in weight
(d of weight
8 It was so heavy that a crane from the lorry.
(a) did they need remove it
(b) they needed to remove it
(c) was needed to have removed it
(d was needed to have it removed
9 In their efforts to persuade us to buy .
(a) one or other product
(b) that or this product
(c) some product or other
(d) a product or two
10 The to this competition was tremendous.
(a) answer
(b) reply
(c) attraction
(d) reaction
11-with a biscuit which the boot of his car.
(a) took complete possession of
(b) took up all the space in
(c) completely covered
(d) on the whole filled
12 The manufacturers had to pay more money than they
(a) expected
(b) hoped
(c) intended
(d) wished
答案：1d 2a 3c 4c 5b 6a 7c 8d 9c 10d 11b 12a