短句问答28：商业经济Gift certificates, or rather their high-tech new replacements gift cards . are Americas most popular present. They spare gift-givers the strain of choosing anything specific. and recipients the horror of having to keep the result. Retailers like them too, because they are quite profitable. But like most goods in the recession, they have become harder to shift, prompting some radical redesigns.
Gift cards are profitable because retailers receive money for them up from, and around 10% of them are never redeemed , according to Lew Paine of the GFK Group, a market-research firm. When people do use them. they often spend more than the amount given. on products with high margins.
But sales of gift cuds were down by around 6% last year in America, to about $25 billion, partly because discounts in stores were so steep that customers naw more value in buying merchandise directly. Bankruptcies among retailers also scared people away from gift cards, for tear that scores would not be around to honour them. Some financial-services companies that offer gift cards which can be used in various stores, including Visa and American Express, came under fire for charging monthly maintenance fees on unspent balances.
Analysts expect another tough holiday season for gift cards this year. Sales will be down by about 5%, projects Archstone Consulting, which studies the business. Retailers arc trying to counter this decline by making gift cards more attractive. One approach is fo add nifty packaging. Target, for example，is selling gift cards that double as wind-up toys or play recorded greetings. Other retailers have launched schemes that let people e-mail one another electronic gift certificates, which the recipients can then print out for use.
Some retailers have even given gift cards away in an effort to drum up business. Neiman Marcus. for example, sent $50 gift cards to prolific customers to entice them back for further sprees. Target will give a $l0 gift card to people who spend $l00 before noon on the Friday after Thanksgiving, which is considered the start of the holiday shopping season. Such handouts can be cheaper than sha~p store-wide discounts. which proved devastating to profits last year. Expiry dates add a sense of urgency, which retailers are eager to foster.
But many customers also have a crafty streak. Bargain-hunters are flocking to eBay and other websites to buy discounted, second-hand gift cards for their own use. eBay is thought to sell around 100,000 gift cards every month. PlasticJungle.com and other sites where people sell unwanted gift cards at discounts, as high as 40% are one pan of the gift-card business which has boomed of late.
参考译文
礼券，或者其高科技替代品礼卡(信用卡形式的凭证)是美国最受欢迎的礼物。礼券让送礼者不必费心挑选特别的礼物，同时也免去了收礼者不得不勉强收下礼物的忐忑。零售商同样喜欢礼券，因为礼券的利润丰厚。但是像大多数处于萧条期的商品一样，礼券变得更加难以转换，这促使人们对它进行一些彻底的重新设计。
据一家市场研究公司GFK的卢 佩恩所说，礼卡的利润之所以丰厚，是因为零售商可以预先收到栈，并且这些钱的大约10%是不返还的。当人们使用礼卡时，他们的消费通常超出礼卡内的金额，而这些用礼卡购买的商品，其利润都很高。
但是去年美国的礼卡销售额下降了6%左右，减少到大约250亿美元，其中部分原因是商店折扣太大，顾客觉得直接购买商品更划算。零售商的破产也让人们产生了恐惧，他们担心商店不能兑现承诺，因此开始远离礼卡。一些提供礼卡以供在各类商店消费的金融服务公司，包括维萨和美国运通，由于收取每月余额管理费，也受到了冲击。
分析家预测今年礼卡将会迎来又一个销售淡季。而根据商业研究公司阿奇斯通咨询公司估计，礼卡销售额将下降5%。零售商正试着将礼卡制做得更具吸引力以应对此下降趋势。其中一种方法是增加俏皮的包装。例如，塔吉特正在销售一种礼卡，它既可以当做上发条的玩具，也可以播放录制的问候。另一些零售商采用了一些方案：让人们相互电邮发送电子礼券，接收者可以将其打印出来使用。
一些零售商为了招揽生意，甚至赠送礼卡。例如，内曼 马库斯给购买商品多的客户赠送价值50美元的礼卡，以吸引他们再次光顾。塔吉特会给那些在感恩节之后周五中午之前(该时期也被看作是假期购物节的开始)消费满lOO元的顾客赠送价值10美元的礼卡。这类散发的礼卡可以比大幅度的全店折扣更便宜，并且在去年被证明是对利润的毁灭性打击。礼卡终止日给人一种紧迫感，这也是零售商所想要培养的。
但是很多客户也很精明。讨价还价者群集到eBay和其他网站购买打折的二手礼卡，以供自己使用。而据说eBay每月销售约100，000张礼卡。PlasticJungle.com和其他一些站点组成了晚兴起的礼卡商业的一部分，在这些网站人们以高达40%的折扣销售不需要的礼卡。
测试题
1. One of the reasons for the popularity of gift cuds lies in that gift-givers dont have to worry about______________________.
2. Whats che drawback of gift cards when the economy is in recession?
3. Some companies that offer gift cards were severely affected last year because_________.
4. How do retailers respond to the decline of sales of gift cards?
5. Retailers gave om handouts to promote consumption. but their efforts turned out__________.
答案详解
1.
第1段第1-2句。
解析：原文spare gift-givers the strain中spare意为 使免遭 ，对应题干gift-givers dont have to worry about，本题答案应在介同of之后找，即choosing anything specific，填choosing gifts也对。
2.
第1段最后一句。
解析：第1段先讲礼卡给送礼、收礼之人及零售商带来的一些好处，紧接着以But 进行转折，指出礼卡在经济大萧条时期遇到的问题 难以转换，即They are harder to shift，为本题答案。
3.
第3段最后一句。
解析：severely affected是对原文came under fire的同义改写，原句for后面的内容即是需要填入空格处的原因，照抄原文即可。
4.
第4段第3句。
解析：respond to the decline 相当于原文中的counter this decline，原文by后面引出的是零售商采取的方法，即题干所问，故为答案。
5.
第5段倒数第二句。
解析：该段提到零售商为了招揽生意，甚至给消赞者赠送礼卡。该段倒数第二句指出零售商这一做法产生的后果，即对利润造成了相当程度的影响。题干中turned out和原文proved表达相同的意思 被证明是 ，proved后的内容照搬即可。