雅思阅读真题+题目+答案：The History of “Farmer”

雅思阅读真题+题目+答案：The History of “Farmer”

A.

History of Farmer trading company: In 1909 Robert Laidlaw establishes mail-order company Laidlaw Leeds in Fort Street, Auckland. Then, Branch expansion: purchase of Green and Colebrook chain store; further provincial stores in Auckland and Waikato to follow. Opening of first furniture and boot factory. In 1920, Company now has 29 branches; Whangarei store purchased. Doors open at Hobson Street for direct selling to public. Firm establishes London and New York buying offices. With permission from the Harbour Board, the large FARMERS electric sign on the Wyndham Street frontage is erected.

B.

In 1935，if the merchandise has changed, the language of the catalogues hasn’t. Robert Laidlaw,，the Scottish immigrant who established the century-old business, might have been scripting a modern-day television commercial when he told his earliest customers: Satisfaction, or your money back. “It was the first money back guarantee ever offered in New Zealand by any firm,” says Ian Hunter, business historian. “And his mission statement was, potentially, only the second one ever found in the world.” Laidlaw’s stated aims were simple to build the greatest business in New Zealand, to simplify every transaction, to eliminate all delays, to only sell goods it would pay the customer to buy.

C.

This year，the company that began as a mail-order business and now employs 3500 staff across 58 stores turns 100. Its centenary will be celebrated with the release of a book and major community fundraising projects, to be announced next week. Hunter, who is writing the centenary history, says “coming to a Farmers store once a week was a part of the New Zealand way of life”. By 1960, one in every 10 people had an account with the company. It was the place where teenage girls shopped for their first bra, where newlyweds purchased their first dinner sets, where first pay cheques were used to pay off hire purchase furniture, where Santa paraded every Christmas.

D.

Gary Blumenthal ‘s mother shopped there, and so does he. The fondest memory for the Rotorua resident? “We were on holiday in Auckland… I decided that up on the lookout tower on top of the Farmers building would be a unique place to fit the ring on my new fiancee? s finger.” The lovebirds, who had to wait for “an annoying youth” to leave the tower before they could enjoy their engagement kiss, celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary in June.

E.

Farmers, says Hunter, has always had a heart. This, from a 1993 North & South interview with a former board chairman, Rawdon Busfield: “One day I was in the Hobson Street shop and I saw a woman with two small children. They were clean and tidily dressed, but poor, you could tell. That week we had a special on a big bar of chocolate for one shilling. I heard the woman say to her boy, ‘no, your penny won’t buy that’. He wasn’t wearing shoes. So I went up to the boy and said, Son, have you got your penny?’ He handed it to me. It was hot he’d had it in his hand for hours. I took the penny and gave him the chocolate.”

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雅思阅读真题题目：

Questions 14-18

The reading Passage has seven paragraphs A-J.

Which paragraph contains the following information?

Write the correct letter A-J, in boxes 14-18 on your answer sheet.

14 Generosity offered in an occasion.

15 Innovation of offer made by the head of company.

16 Fashion was not its strong point.

17 A romantic event on the roof of farmer’s. building.

18 Farmer was sold to a private owned company.

Questions 19-23

Complete the sentence below.

Complete the following summary of the paragraphs of Reading Passage, using NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the Reading Passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 19-24 on your answer sheet.

19 Farmer was first founded as a……………….. in Auckland by Mr. Laidlaw.

20 Farmer developed fast and bought one……………….. afterward.

21 During oversea expansion, Farmer set up……………….. in London and New York.

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