Passage 1

Rockwatch—The Best Club on Earth

If you are a young person and interested in geology(地质学), then Rockwatch is the club for you.

When You Join

New memberships receive a Rockwatch Rox file each. This has the information and top tips you will need to start enjoying geology. It’s designed to serve as your own field notebook as well.

In it you will find your：

membership card

full color mini-map

thumbs up guide

fact cards

Rockwatch Magazine

Our lively magazine is mailed to members three times a year. They can read reports and news from around the world，and articles on everything from diamonds to dinosaurs(恐龙), earthquakes to erosion(水土流失).

Rockwatch Events

With each magazine you will receive a Rockwatch events calendar. Rocky activities suitable for families are listed and include road shows and guided walks.

The Rockwatch Rock Artist

社会营销追随着社交网络的趋势。(social marketing)

为方便大宗交易，公司打算使网站的界面更加人性化。(in bulk)

网络电子商务市场的这一增长必定会产生新的工作和商业机会。(generate)

你的网店如何与众不同?(differ)

给你的客户提供各种支付方式。(available)

E-commerce is coming of age, but not in the way predicted in the bubble years. (71.)[Now some of the dotcoms are making real profits, but the business world has become much more cautious about the internet’s potential.] The funny thing is that the wild predictions made at the height of the boom—namely, that vast chunks of the world economy would move into cyberspace—are, in one way or another, coming true.

(72.)[According to America’s Department of Commerce, online retail sales last year rose by 26%, to $55 billion.] That sounds a lot of money, but it amounts to only 1.6% of total retail sales. (73.)[The vast majority of people still buy most things in the good old “bricks-and-mortar”world.]

(74.)[But the commerce department’s figures deal with only part of the retail industry.] (75.)[For instance，they exclude online travel services, one of the most successful and fastest-growing sectors of e-commerce.] InterActiveCorp (IAC), the owner of expedia.com and hotels.com, alone sold $10 billion-worth of travel last year—and it has plenty of competition, not least from airlines, hotels and car-rental companies, all of which increasingly sell online.

If the package is wrapped well, we ______ (assume) the contents are also wonderful.

Customers are advised to make seat ______ (reserve) well in advance.

The need to talk to someone, anyone, ______ (overwhelm) her.

Cars must stop at red traffic lights; ______ (similar) bicycles should stop too, but they don’t always do so.