2. 外语
  3. Every year thousands of people are arrested and taken to court for shop-lifting. In Britain alone, about HK$3,000,000’s worth of

Every year thousands of people are arrested and taken to court for shop-lifting. In Britain alone, about HK$3,000,000’s worth of

admin2016-12-06  30
问题     Every year thousands of people are arrested and taken to court for shop-lifting. In Britain alone, about HK$3,000,000’s worth of goods are stolen from shops every week. This amounts to something like HK$150 million a year, and represents about 4 per cent of the shop’s total stock. As a result of this "shrinkage" as the shops call it, the honest public has to pay higher prices.
    Shop-lifters can be divided into three main categories: the professionals, the deliberate amateurs, and the people who just can’t help themselves. The professionals do not pose much of a problem for the store detectives, who, assisted by closed circuit television, two-way mirrors and various other technological devices, can usually cope with them. The professionals tend to go for high value goods in parts of the shops where security measures are tightest. And, in any case, they account for only a small percentage of the total losses due to shop-lifting.
    The same applies to the deliberate amateur who is, so to speak, a professional in training. Most of them get caught sooner or later, and they are dealt with severely by the courts.
    The real problem is the person who gives way to a sudden temptation and is in all other respects an honest and law-abiding citizen. Contrary to what one would expect, this kind of shop-lifter is rarely poor. He does not steal because he needs the goods and cannot afford to pay for them. He steals because he simply cannot stop himself. And there are countless others who, because of age, sickness or plain absent-mindedness, simply forget to pay for what they take from the shops. When caught, all are liable to prosecution, and the decision whether to send for the police or not is in the hands of the store manager.
    In order to prevent the quite incredible growth in shop-lifting offences, some stores, in fact, are doing their best to separate the thieves from the confused by prohibiting customers from taking bags into the store. However, what is most worrying about the whole problem is, perhaps, that it is yet another instance of the innocent majority being penalized and inconvenienced because of the actions of a small minority. It is the aircraft hijack situation in another form. Because of the possibility of one passenger in a million boarding an aircraft with a weapon, the other 999,999 passengers must subject themselves to searches and delays. Unless the situation in the shops improves, in ten years’ time we may all have to subject ourselves to a body-search every time we go into a store to buy a tin of beans!
Who have to make up for the shops’ loss from shoplifting?
选项
答案The honest public．/The consumers．/The customers．
解析 从第1段可知，由于商店扒手每年窃取大量的商品，商店的商品减少，于是商店就会提价，把损失转嫁到消费者的身上，也就是说因为扒手造成的损失，得由the honest public去承担。如果不用原文的表达，也可以回答The consumers或The customers。
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