GRE阅读练习：圣诞火爆商机从卖树开始.docxVIP

Word文档下载后（可任意编辑） 第 第 PAGE 1 页 共 NUMPAGES 1 页 GRE阅读练习：圣诞火爆商机从卖树开始 GRE阅读训练：GRE阅读练习：圣诞火爆商机从卖树开始 GRE考试精品课程指导  FRANOIS, also known as The Tree Man,  弗朗索瓦，也被人叫做圣诞树人。  sets up his stand every year on the corner of 102nd Street and Broadway.  他每年都会在纽约102号大街和百老汇大道的街角摆上自己的摊位。  He and the 500 Christmas trees he brings from Quebec have become a fixture in Manhattans Upper West Side.  他和他从加拿大魁北克市带来的500棵圣诞树已经成为了曼哈顿上西区固定不变的风景线。  For up to five weeks he sells the trees by day for 20 to 300, depending on size and quality, sleeping in his van at night.  在最多五周的时间里，白天他会根据树的大小和质量卖出每棵树20到300美元不等的价格。晚上他就睡在自己的货车里。  What he earns is, he says, the icing on the cake of his annual income.  他说，他在这段时间所挣的钱，对于他年收入是锦上添花。  The Tree Man is a small branch of a big business.  圣诞树所带来的收入只是这个利润丰厚商业的一小部分。  According to a survey by the National Christmas Tree Association, a trade group, Americans spent more than 1 billion on 25 mtrees in 2012.  据全美圣诞树协会20这个贸易集团的一项调查显示，在2012年，美国人花费了十亿美元购买了2500万棵圣诞树。  The average price they said they paid was 40.  受访的美国人称购买圣诞树的平均价格为40美元。  But not all Christmas trees are alike.  但不是所有的圣诞树都是一样。  People on the East Coast like Fraser firs, with their typical evergreen fragrance.  美国东海岸的人们喜欢弗雷则杉树，因为其带有典型的常绿植物的芳香。  Oregons Grand Fir, which has an orange-like scent, is popular in California.  而带有柑橘香味的俄勒冈大杉树则在加利福利亚比较受欢迎。  Many homes can no longer make do with the festive cheer that only one tree brings.  仅仅靠一棵圣诞树已经不能使很多感受到太多的节日气氛。  Bob Sedlatschek of Home Depot, a chain store which expects to sell 2.8 mtrees this year, notes that some households are buying several.  来自美国家居公司家得宝的Bob Sedlatschek称，一些家庭会购置更多的东西。该家居连锁店今年预计将会售出280万棵圣诞树。  Lou Mignone bought five this year, cutting down the last at Maple Row Tree Farm in Easton, Connecticut, where mums and dads wearing Santa hats meander round the lush 200 acres looking for the perfect sapling. About a quarter of buyers l