There is no market without income, and the youth segment qualifies on this important dimension. Their spending reached about $55

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问题     There is no market without income, and the youth segment qualifies on this important dimension. Their spending reached about $55 billion, with approximately $11 billion put in savings. Because many jobs are available fast-food restaurants and other businesses that need young people for labor, over 30 percent of high school senior boys and nearly 25 percent of senior girls say they average over 20 hours of work a week during the school year.
    The important facet of teen incomes is that they are almost entirely discretionary; that is, there are few, if any, fixed obligations such as taxes, rent, insurance, and utilities that these youths must meet. A notable result of increasing youth income is the increasing tendency of youths to buy more durable and high-priced products, from radios to designer jeans, cosmetics, and footwear. According to the president of a youth-research company, "Products which were considered luxuries a few years ago are deemed necessities by youths and parents alike. " Thus, some youths are experiencing "premature affluence" —they have a lot of spending money but will not be able to sustain that level of discretionary spending once they have taken on the burdens of paying for their own necessities.
    Why do youths have such a strong consumption orientation? According to one researcher, three significant forces have molded their attitudes and consumer behavior. First, the experience of growing up in a period of economic optimism. A second factor is permissive child rearing, which has been linked by researchers to a reduced capacity for initiative and independence. Third, the new generation has a higher educational level and heavier exposure to the mass media.
    These environmental forces have had a significant influence on their consumer-behavior orientations. The result has been that youths tend to be rather optimistic about their future financial situations and level of living. For example, almost all young people look forward to what has been labeled the "standard package" —the set of durable goods, clothing, food products, and services enjoyed by the majority of Americans. Although they used to be told to save their money, young people in America today are being raised to spend, according to an authority who conducts a yearly youth poll. It is also important to recognize that the teen market not only spends a great deal of money on its own, but also influences the amount spent by parents. In total, it represents an almost $250 billion market in direct or indirect spending. Even children aged 4 to 12 directly influence $132 billion of household purchases. Today’s parents recognize that their kids are a lot more involved in making family decisions than they were as children, and many teens are doing the family shopping. Corporations are recognizing this trend and capitalizing on the fact that children can be very persistent in their search for a particular item.
By saying "the youths’ incomes are almost entirely discretionary", the author means that the youths

选项 A、do not need to get parents’ permission before spending their money.
B、do not have burdens of paying for their own necessities.
C、tend to buy luxuries instead of life necessities.
D、are careful in spending their money.

答案B

解析 作者说the youths’incomes are almost entirely discretionary这句话的意思是:青年人[A]花自己的钱之前不需要经过父母的准许。[B]不必负担自己的必需品。[C]倾向于购买奢侈品而不是生活必需品。[D]花钱的时候很谨慎。根据文章第二段,“青少年的收入几乎可完全自由支配”,然后作者进行了具体解释,即他们不履行固定的义务,不必交税和付房租、保险及其他家庭生活必需支出,因此处于一种“超前富裕”状态,即一旦他们必须自己支付生活必需品,他们将很难维持这种富裕水平,所以[B]是正确答案。
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