PASSAGE 11 
Gross National Product (GNP)

　?GNP is measure most often used to determine how well the economy is faring; government and business alike ____(1)____. What does GNP include? If the retail¹ prices of all the goods and services produced during the year were added up, the figure arrived at would be the gross national product for that year.
　　There are three different approaches to determining gross national product. All three will yield the same answer, because each is doing the same thing-measuring the total value of goods and services produced in the nation during the year. The first approach is totaling up the final market price of retail value of all production. This approach is easy to understand because it follows exactly the definition of GNP-the value of the nation’s production, or product, _____(2)_____.
　　It is also possible to look at GNP from the point of view of goods and services bought rather than produced. This method is called the expenditures³ approach; it involves recording⁴ ____(3)____.
　　About two-thirds of all expenditures in the marketplace are for consumer goods and services and are made by families buying to satisfy their needs. Economists⁵ call these household purchases personal consumption expenditures.
　　The second largest buyer in the marketplace is government. Government at all level’s accounts for over one-fifth of total expenditures.
　　Investment expenditures made by business account for most of the remaining purchases. Under this category are all purchases of capital goods (such as machinery⁶ and equipment), all construction (including homes), and the differences between inventories⁷ at the beginning of the year and at the end of the year.
　　The final and smallest item in the expenditure² approach is net foreign investment. The total for this category is calculated by adding together all the expenditures ____(4)____ and subtracting from that amount the total of all U.S. purchases made abroad.
　　The third method of determining GNP is by analyzing⁸ income. Because the factors of production are responsible for the making of goods and services, it is possible to determine GNP by adding up all the payments made to those involved in this production. The sum of all wages, salaries, interest, rent, and profits, plus indirect business taxes and capital consumption, must be calculated. The resulting total represents the payment, or income, side of the goods and services produced. This figure is most frequently referred to _____(5)_____. However, the gross national income should equal the gross national product.
练习：
A before anything is subtracted from the total
B as gross national income because it deals with income instead of production
C use it to determine their future policies and plans
D based on foreign investments
E made by foreign countries in the United States
F who is buying the goods and services in the marketplace 
Keys: CAFEB
 
PASSAGE 12 
Supermarket
　?Supermarket is a type of retailing⁹ institution that has a moderately broad product assortment¹⁰ spanning groceries and some nonfood lines, that ordinarily emphasizes price in either an offensive or defensive¹¹ way. As a method, supermarket retailing features several related product lines, a high degree of self-service, largely centralized checkout¹², and competitive prices. The supermarket approach to retailing is used to sell various kinds of merchandise, ____(1)____.
　　The term supermarket usually refers to an institution in the grocery retailing field. Most supermarkets emphasize price. Some use price offensively by featuring low prices in order to attract customers. Other supermarkets use price more defensively by relying on leader pricing to avoid a price disadvantage. Since supermarkets typically have very thin gross margins¹³, they need high levels of inventory¹⁴ turnover¹⁵ to achieve satisfactory returns on invested capital.
　　Supermarkets originates in the early 1930s. They were established by independents ____(2)____. Supermarkets were an immediate¹⁶ success, and the innovation was soon adopted by chain stores. In recent decades supermarkets have added various nonfood lines to provide customers with one-stop shopping convenience and to improve overall gross margins.
　　Today stores using the supermarket method of retailing are dominant¹⁷ in grocery retailing. However, different names are used to distinguish these institutions ____(3)____:
　　A superstore is a larger version of the supermarket. It offers more grocery and nonfood items ____(4)____. Many supermarket chains are emphasizing superstores in their new construction.
Combination stores are usually even larger than superstore. They, too, offer more groceries and nonfoods than a supermarket but also most product lines found in a large drugstore. Some combination stores are joint¹⁸ ventures between supermarkets and drug chains such as Kroger and Sav-on.
　　For many years the supermarket has been under attack from numerous competitors. For example, a grocery shopper can choose among not only many brands of supermarkets but also various types of institutions (warehouse stores, gourmet¹⁹ shops, meat and fish markets, and convenience stores). Supermarkets have reacted to competitive pressures ____(5)____: Some cut costs and stressed low prices by offering more private brands and generic²⁰ products and few customer services. Others expanded their store size and assortments²¹ by adding more nonfood lines (especially products found in drugstores), groceries attuned²² to a particular market area (foods that appeal to a specific ethnic²³ group, for example), and various service departments (including video rentals²⁴, restaurants, delicatessens, financial institutions, and pharmacies).
A by size and assortment
B than a conventional supermarket does
C including building materials, office products, and, of course, groceries
D attracting more customers with their low prices
E primarily in either of two ways
F to compete with grocery chains
KEYS: CFABE

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