There are many different kinds of peaches (桃). One clear difference is the one between clingstone一fruit in which the flesh is stuck to the seed inside—and freestone一that in which the seed floats freely. Customers prefer freestone peaches because they don’t want to struggle to get the flesh away from the seed.

　　And that’s how it goes in stone fruit land. Plant breeders (培育者) are trying all the time to improve the old favorites. Frequently, the changes are designed to meet the demands of the growers or packers. One very delicious family of peach varieties has nearly disappeared because it forms a small “beak”at the bottom of the fruit. That little point is likely to break during packing and shipping, o-pening the door to spoilage (腐爛).

　　This is certainly not to say that the wants of customers are not important. In fact, they drive some of the most important changes. One thing customers like is red—lots of red. Peaches used to be prized for golden skin; now people are buying red, regarding it as a sign of ripeness.

　　But red has a hold on people. There’s a story told by those in the stone fruit industry about a marketing experiment. A group of people were given two peaches:one a fairly tasteless red variety, the other a great-tasting gold. Sitting around, tasting and talking about the fruit, the group all agreed that the gold was a much better peach and that was the one they would buy. Then, on the way out the door, they were offered boxes of peaches as a thank-you gift. One held the preferred golden fruit, the other the red. To a person, they picked the red fruit to take home. Red sells.

　　64.What does the word“stone” mean in the text?

　　[A] The hard seed inside a fruit.

　　[B] Containers that packers use.

　　[C] Small rocks found in the fields.

　　[D] Soft beaks at the bottom of the fruit.

　　65.Why do plant breeders try hard to improve peaches?

　　[A] To get better shaped fruit.

　　[B] To meet the needs of growers.

　　[C] To make peaches taste better.

　　[D] To have a better chance for prizes.

　　66.Why do people like to buy red fruit?

　　[A] They believe it is ripe.

　　[B] It sells cheaper than gold.

　　[C] It is usually more delicious.

　　[D] They know it is an improved variety.

　　67.What can we learn about the peach-tasting group in the last paragraph?

　　[A] They were experts on marketing.

　　[B] They took home golden peaches.

　　[C] They agreed about the taste of peaches.

　　[D] They said they would buy the red peaches.

　　答案與解析：

　　64. 選A。該題屬于推斷題。stone的本意是“石頭”，但結(jié)合本文關(guān)于桃子的描述，可以推斷出它指的是桃子中間的部分，Brthe hard seed in-side a fruit”。

　　65. 選B。該題屬于細(xì)節(jié)題。從文章第二段第二句“the changes are designed to meet the demands of the growers or packers”可得出答案。

　　66. 選A。該題屬于細(xì)節(jié)題。從文章第三段最后一句“now people are buying red, regarding it as a sign of ripeness”可以得出答案。

　　67. 選C。該題屬于細(xì)節(jié)題。此題可以用排除法解答，A選項(xiàng)中，他們并不是專家，而是被實(shí)驗(yàn)者，B、D選項(xiàng)不符合文中的表達(dá)，可排除。

　　參考譯文：

　　桃子的種類繁多，它們之間一個(gè)明顯的區(qū)別是粘核桃和離核桃，前者指桃子果肉和內(nèi)部的核緊密相連的品種，后者指果肉和核彼此脫離的種類。人們總是喜歡離核的桃子，因?yàn)樗麄儜械觅M(fèi)力將果肉和桃核剝開。

　　在核果地帶總是這樣，作物培育者總是試圖改善桃子以迎合老顧客的需求，為迎合種植者和包裝商的需求而經(jīng)常做出變動(dòng)。一個(gè)美味的桃子家族因其底部長著小小的鳥嘴般的東西而幾近滅絕。那個(gè)小東西在包裝和運(yùn)輸過程中可能會(huì)破裂，以至于腐爛。

　　這當(dāng)然并不意味著顧客的需求是不重要的，其實(shí)，他們促使一些重大的變化發(fā)生。顧客喜歡滿是紅色的桃子。以前人們總是夸贊桃子擁有金黃色的外表;例如，人們都買紅色的桃子，認(rèn)為意味著成熟。

　　紅 色對人們有一定影響。核果工業(yè)人士曾講了個(gè)關(guān)于營銷實(shí)驗(yàn)的故事。把兩種桃子發(fā)給一組人：一種是索然無味的紅色桃子，另一種是味道甜美的金色桃子。那組人圍 圈而坐，品嘗桃子，相互討論，都認(rèn)為金色桃子比較美味，是他們買桃的選擇。然后，在出門時(shí)，有人送給他們幾箱桃子作為感謝禮物。一種是受人青睞的金色桃 子，另一種是紅色桃子。為了送人，他們選擇了紅色桃子，于是紅色桃子大賣。