（新课标）2015届高考英语二轮复习 专题限时训练 社会生活型阅读理解（一）.docVIP

[社会生活型阅读理解(一)] (限时：25分钟) 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 (一) Endless playing of songs like All I Want for Christmas Is You in shops during the festive season doesnt just drive us mad—the songs also make us more careless with our money, research has warned. While the repeated performance of Jingle Bells may seem like an innocent attempt to raise customers spirits during the nightmare of Christmas shopping, the songs also have a more delicate impact. “‘Background music’ or‘Muzak’ can be used by marketers to impose cultures—such as the commercialization of Christmas—onto consumers and influence their behaviour，” experts said. Dr Alan Bradshaw of Royal Holloway, University of London, said，“Festive jingles are force-fed to Christmas shoppers to change their mood, influence their sense of time and what sort of products they buy. In other words, this is an attempt to control their shopping habits in a way that they might hardly be aware of.” “Often we are told that we have the freedom to choose where we want to shop, but during Christmas the use of music in this way is so common that our freedom to choose disappears.” Dr Bradshaw and Professor Morris Holbrook of Columbia University examined the phenomenon and found that retailers often “dumb down” the music played in shops to relax customers, meaning it is easier to control their behaviour. It is thought that slowing down the rhythm of music in shops can trick customers into thinking less time has passed, and therefore they spend more time examining the shelves, for example. Some providers of background music have been known to promote their services by claiming they can boost profits by controlling the behaviour of customers. “A common trick is to take a popular current song and record an instrumental version which can be slowed down or sped up at different time of the day to influence behaviour in different ways，” Dr Bradshaw said. Background music is often classed as “Muzak” in honour of the Seattle-based company which began producin