下面是一篇關(guān)于環(huán)境類的雅思閱讀材料，這篇雅思閱讀材料的主要內(nèi)容是名人的廣告效應(yīng)以及相關(guān)的介紹。下面是詳細(xì)內(nèi)容，供大家參考，希望給大家?guī)�來幫助�?/P>

　　Celebrity Endorsements: An Examination of Gender and Consumers’ Attitudes

　　Celebrity endorsements have long been used as a source of marketing messages to promote a wide variety of products and services. Companies have been spending huge amounts of money to have athletes and other celebrities endorse both sports and non-sports products. Celebrity images can be found in print, radio, and approximately 20 percent of all television commercials (Boyd and Shank 2004). Within a relatively short time, the amount of money spent on athletes in advertising has skyrocketed. In 1986, companies paid approximately $100 million for endorsements, licensing rights, and advertising (Peetz, Parks, and Spencer 2004). Ten years later, that amount had risen to more than $1 billion, as athlete endorsement expenditures have hovered around $1 billion dollars annually for the past ten years (Peetz, Parks, and Spencer 2004).

　　The actions of athletic products manufacturer Nike underscores the nature of spending on athlete endorsements. During an eight-month period in 2004, Nike invested $192 million in endorsement deals with National Basketball Association (NBA) rookies Lebron James ($90 million) and Carmello Anthony ($15 million); NBA star Kobe Bryant ($45 million); tennis star Serena Williams ($40 million); 14-year old U.S. soccer talent Freddy Adu ($1 million); and Canadian world champion hurdler Perdita Felicien ($1 million). These were deals within an eight-month timeframe and did not take into account existing deals with golfer Tiger Woods, National Football League player Michael Vick (currently serving a prison sentence and suspended by the NFL), Major League Baseball’s Derek Jeter, track’s Marion Jones (another athlete who recently admitted to drug use and had her 2000 Olympic medals stripped), and soccer’s Mia Hamm (Thomaselli 2004).

　　As a result of the pervasiveness of celebrity endorsement in advertising, much has been studied and written about this phenomenon over the past several years (for recent examples, see Bailey 2007; Biswas, Biswas, and Das 2006; Thomson 2006). The studies have explored a number of issues related to such factors as the relative effectiveness of celebrity endorsers in advertising, the factors that impact consumer response to celebrity endorsers, and, more recently, the consequences of negative information or publicity surrounding a celebrity endorser (for example, Bailey 2007; Louie and Obermiller 2002; Silvera and Austad 2004; Till and Shimp 1998). The introductory quote from Peetz, Parks, and Spencer (2004) encapsulates the reasons that marketers have been using celebrities as endorsers, while Jones and Schumann (2000) underscore that there is a high price tag attached to this endeavor.

　　Although the use of athletes as endorsers and the amount of money spent on these endorsers is increasing, there still remains much to be learned about how consumers perceive athlete endorsers and the variables that influence endorser effectiveness. More specifically, we know little about the impact of gender—both gender of the consumer and gender of the endorser—on consumers’ attitudes and perceptions. The study seeks to determine whether the gender of the consumer who is exposed to a celebrity endorsement will impact how that consumer views a male or female celebrity endorser. The paper is organized as follows: First, background information on celebrity endorsement is presented and testable hypotheses are developed. We then provide details of an experimental study that was undertaken to test these hypotheses. The results of the experiment are presented and these findings are discussed. Finally, the study’s limitations are highlighted and avenues for future research are suggested.

　　【熱點話題】 根據(jù)上述報道，由于名人效應(yīng)，所以很多公司把名人代言廣告作為公司打入市場的主要渠道，同時也不惜在名人廣告費上花大手筆。本篇文章通過引證其他學(xué)者的調(diào)查研究來陳述在近些年各個公司和品牌在名人代言上的動態(tài)和花費。朗閣海外考試研究中心分析認(rèn)為，這類話題是近兩年雅思閱讀和寫作比較熱門的話題，希望大家多多予以關(guān)注。此外，像這類的學(xué)術(shù)類文章一般多會出人名-觀點搭配和多選題。

　　【難句詞匯】 雅思考生的閱讀難點之一就是詞匯量和句型的掌握程度的不同，如果學(xué)生的詞匯量不足，那么文章將看不懂，我們從上文中就可以學(xué)到很多的句型和詞匯。

　　As a result of the pervasiveness of celebrity endorsement in advertising, much has been studied and written about this phenomenon over the past several years (for recent examples, see Bailey 2007; Biswas, Biswas, and Das 2006; Thomson 2006).

　　從行文架構(gòu)來說，本篇文章引證了多位專家的發(fā)現(xiàn)和觀點，這在學(xué)術(shù)類閱讀中也是比較常見的。事實上，任何一篇能編排出人名-觀點型Matching題目的雅思閱讀文章，都可以被看作這篇文章在結(jié)構(gòu)上的翻版�？紤]到人名-觀點型Matching本身又是雅思閱讀高頻題型之一，本文的借鑒意義更加明顯。

　　【真題預(yù)測】 根據(jù)剛才關(guān)于celebrity advertising的原版文章，我們來練習(xí)一下雅思閱讀的�？碱}型之—— 人名-觀點搭配題：

　　Look at the following statements (Questions 1-3) and the list of researchers below.

　　Match each statement with the correct researcher(s), A-D.

　　Write the correct letter, A-D, in boxes 1-3 on your answer sheet.

　　NB. You may use any letter more than once.

　　1. The causes that many large corporations have been employing some famous people in society to advertise their products were quoted in the introductory part.

　　2. There can be many famous people's images in a range of media like radios or television.

　　3. The top-ranking sportsmen endorsement expenditures have been constantly soared to over $1 billion during the past decade.