Part A: Reading Comprehension
Text 3
Over the past decade, many companies had perfected the art of creating automatic behaviors—habits—among consumers. These habits have helped companies earn billions of dollars when customers eat snacks or wipe counters almost without thinking, often in response to a carefully designed set of daily cues.
“There are fundamental public health problems, like dirty hands instead of a soap habit, that remain killers only because we can’t figure out how to change people’s habits,” said Dr. Curtis, the director of the Hygiene Center at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. “We wanted to learn from private industry how to create new behaviors that happen automatically.”
The companies that Dr. Curtis turned to—Procter & Gamble, Colgate‑Palmolive and Unilever—had invested hundreds of millions of dollars finding the subtle cues in consumers’ lives that corporations could use to introduce new routines.
If you look hard enough, you’ll find that many of the products we use every day—chewing gums, skin moisturizers, disinfecting wipes, air fresheners, water purifiers, health snacks, teeth whiteners, fabric softeners, vitamins—are results of manufactured habits. A century ago, few people regularly brushed their teeth multiple times a day. Today, because of shrewd advertising and public health campaigns, many Americans habitually give their pearly whites a cavity‑preventing scrub twice a day, often with Colgate, Crest or one of the other brands.
A few decades ago, many people didn’t drink water outside of a meal. Then beverage companies started bottling the production of far‑off springs, and now office workers unthinkingly sip bottled water all day long. Chewing gum, once bought primarily by adolescent boys, is now featured in commercials as a breath freshener and teeth cleanser for use after a meal. Skin moisturizers are advertised as part of morning beauty rituals, slipped in between hair brushing and putting on makeup.
“Our products succeed when they become part of daily or weekly patterns,” said Carol Berning, a consumer psychologist who recently retired from Procter & Gamble, the company that sold $76 billion of Tide, Crest and other products last year. “Creating positive habits is a huge part of improving our consumers’ lives, and it’s essential to making new products commercially viable.”
Through experiments and observation, social scientists like Dr. Berning have learned that there is power in tying certain behaviors to habitual cues through ruthless advertising. As this new science of habit has emerged, controversies have erupted when the tactics have been used to sell questionable beauty creams or unhealthy foods.
31. According to Dr. Curtis, habits like hand washing with soap
32. Bottled water, chewing gum and skin moisturizers are mentioned in Paragraph 5 so as to
33. Which of the following does NOT belong to products that help create people’s habits?
34. From the text we know that some of consumers’ habits are developed due to
35. The author’s attitude toward the influence of advertisement on people’s habits is
答案与解析 (Answers)
31. [A] should be further cultivated.
解析：第二段中柯蒂斯博士指出，脏手（而不是用肥皂的习惯）仍然是致命问题，因为“我们无法弄清楚如何改变人们的习惯”，所以她希望向私营企业学习“如何创造自动发生的新行为”。这说明她认为像用肥皂洗手这样的习惯“应该被进一步培养（cultivated）”，故选A。
32. [A] reveal their impact on people’s habits.
解析：第五段列举了瓶装水、口香糖和润肤霜的例子。通过对比它们“几十年前”不受关注和“现在”成为人们每天不假思索地使用的必需品，作者意在揭示商业广告（manufactured habits）对人们行为习惯的巨大“影响（impact）”。故选A。
33. [D] Unilever.
解析：细节题。第四段提到了高露洁（Colgate）和佳洁士（Crest）作为牙膏产品的品牌；第六段提到了汰渍（Tide）和佳洁士作为产品销售。而第三段提到联合利华（Unilever）是一家“公司（company）”，而不是“产品（product）”。故选D。
34. [C] commercial promotions.
解析：第四段明确指出：“由于精明的广告（shrewd advertising）和公共卫生运动，许多美国人习惯性地……”。第五段也提到口香糖“在商业广告中（in commercials）被作为清新剂为特色”。这些都说明消费者的许多习惯是由于“商业推广（commercial promotions）”而养成的，选C。
35. [B] negative.
解析：作者的态度题需看全文的情感色彩，特别是首尾段。最后一段作者使用了“无情的广告（ruthless advertising）”这样的负面词汇，并指出当这种策略被用于推销“可疑的美容霜（questionable beauty creams）或不健康的食品（unhealthy foods）”时，引发了“争议（controversies）”。由此可见，作者对广告塑造习惯的这种影响力持“负面/否定（negative）”态度，选B。
核心长难句精解 (High-Light)
1. 复杂的定语从句与同位语：
"There are fundamental public health problems, like dirty hands instead of a soap habit, that remain killers only because we can’t figure out how to change people’s habits..."
【解析】like... 是插入语举例。that 引导的定语从句修饰 problems，指出这些健康问题依然致命的原因。because 引导原因状语从句。
"There are fundamental public health problems, like dirty hands instead of a soap habit, that remain killers only because we can’t figure out how to change people’s habits..."
【解析】like... 是插入语举例。that 引导的定语从句修饰 problems，指出这些健康问题依然致命的原因。because 引导原因状语从句。
2. 并列举例与被动语态的灵活运用：
"Skin moisturizers are advertised as part of morning beauty rituals, slipped in between hair brushing and putting on makeup."
【解析】are advertised as（被宣传为）。slipped in 是过去分词短语作状语（或后置定语），形象地描述了润肤霜是如何被“硬塞进/巧妙安插在”刷牙和化妆的间隙，从而强行变成消费者日常习惯的。
"Skin moisturizers are advertised as part of morning beauty rituals, slipped in between hair brushing and putting on makeup."
【解析】are advertised as（被宣传为）。slipped in 是过去分词短语作状语（或后置定语），形象地描述了润肤霜是如何被“硬塞进/巧妙安插在”刷牙和化妆的间隙，从而强行变成消费者日常习惯的。
3. 伴随状语与负面色彩词汇的组合：
"As this new science of habit has emerged, controversies have erupted when the tactics have been used to sell questionable beauty creams or unhealthy foods."
【解析】As 引导时间/伴随状语从句。主句的 controversies have erupted 表达了作者的批判立场，紧随其后的 when 引导的状语从句更是用 questionable 和 unhealthy 彻底奠定了文章对商业洗脑的负面基调（Q35 题眼）。
"As this new science of habit has emerged, controversies have erupted when the tactics have been used to sell questionable beauty creams or unhealthy foods."
【解析】As 引导时间/伴随状语从句。主句的 controversies have erupted 表达了作者的批判立场，紧随其后的 when 引导的状语从句更是用 questionable 和 unhealthy 彻底奠定了文章对商业洗脑的负面基调（Q35 题眼）。