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  3. In 1998 consumers could purchase virtually anything over the Internet. Books, compact discs, and even stocks were available from

In 1998 consumers could purchase virtually anything over the Internet. Books, compact discs, and even stocks were available from

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问题     In 1998 consumers could purchase virtually anything over the Internet. Books, compact discs, and even stocks were available from World Wide Web sites that seemed to spring up almost daily. A few years earlier, some people had predicted that consumers accustomed to shopping in stores would be reluctant to buy things that they could not see or touch in person. For a growing number of time-starved consumers, however, shopping from their home computer was proving to be a convenient alternative to driving to the store.
    A research estimated that in 1998 US consumers would purchase $ 7. 3 billion of goods over the Internet, double the 1997 total. Finding a bargain was getting easier, owing to the rise of online auctions and Web sites that did comparison shopping on the Internet for the best deal.
    For all the consumer interest, retailing in cyberspace was still a largely unprofitable business, however. Internet pioneer Amazon, com, which began selling books in 1995 and later branched into recorded music and videos, posted revenue of $ 153. 7 million in the third quarter, up from $ 37. 9 million in the same period of 1997. Overall, however, the company’s loss widened to $ 45. 2 million from $ 9. 6 million, and analysts did not expect the company to turn a profit until 2001. Despite the great loss, Amazon, com had a stock market value of many billions, reflecting investors’ optimism about the future of the industry.
    Internet retailing appealed to investors because it provided an efficient means for reaching millions of consumers without having the cost of operating conventional stores with their armies of salespeople. Selling online carried its own risks, however. With so many companies competing for consumers’ attention, price competition was intense and profit margins thin or nonexistent. One video retailer sold the hit movie Titanic for $ 9. 99, undercutting (削价) the $ 19. 99 suggested retail price and losing about $ 6 on each copy sold. With Internet retailing still in its initial stage, companies seemed willing to absorb such losses in an attempt to establish a dominant market position.
It can be inferred from the passage that Amazon.com______.
选项 A、will probably make a profit in 2001
B、is making a profit now
C、is a company that sells books only
D、suffers a great loss on the stock market
答案A
解析 本题是一道具体细节题。问我们可以从文章中推断出来Amazon．com公司如何。利用查阅式阅读法，根据文章第三段的内容，Amazon．com在1995年开始售书，后来又增加了销售音像制品的业务。到今年第三季度，它的收入已达1．537亿美元，与1997年同期相比增长了3790万美元。但是总的来看，公司的亏损却由960万美元增加到4 520万美元。分析人士认为，公司到2001年才可望盈利。但是，尽管目前亏损很大，公司股票的市值却达数十亿美元，表明了投资者对这个公司的未来很乐观。可见，本题的正确答案应是A“公司可能会在2001年盈利”。
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