The old-fashioned general store is fast disappearing. This is, perhaps, a pity, because shopping today seems to lack that person

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问题     The old-fashioned general store is fast disappearing. This is, perhaps, a pity, because shopping today seems to lack that personal element which existed when the shopkeeper knew all his regular customers personally. He could remember which brand of tea Mrs. Smith usually bought or what sort of washing powder Mrs. Jones preferred. Not only was the shop a center of retail trade, but also a social meeting place. Gossip was always exchanged over the counter and the shopkeeper was often the most well-informed person in the neighborhood.
    A prosperous general store might have employed four or five assistants, and so there were very few problems of a managerial nature as far as the staffs were concerned. But now that the supermarket has replaced the general store, the job of manager has changed completely. The modern supermarket manager has to cope with a staff of as many as a hundred, apart from all the other everyday problems of running a large business.
    Every morning the manager must, like the commander of an army division, carry out an inspection of his store, to make sure that everything is ready for the business of the day. He must see that everything is running smoothly. He will have to give advice and make decisions on any problem that may arise, but his staff have their own responsibilities for their various departments, and so the manager delegated certain duties to them. Then he may interview people who have applied for jobs in the supermarket, together with the staff supervisor.
    Special promotions or displays may have to be discussed. Prices may have to be altered after a careful consultation of the current market prices list; for example, the wholesale price of cabbages may have dropped, or meat, may have gone up.
    But no matter what he has to do throughout the day, the store manager must be ready for any emergency that may arise, no matter how unexpected. They say in the trade that you are not really an experienced supermarket manager until you have dealt with a flood, a fire, a birth and a death in your store.
The word "gossip"(Line 6, Para. 1)probably means______.

选项 A、friendship
B、currency
C、informal talk
D、profit or goods

答案C

解析 前文说老式店铺不仅是卖东西的地方,而且也是社会交际的场所,所以gossip在这里主要是表述一种邻里间的交际方式,gossip原意为“小道消息,流言蜚语”,本段中的gossip应是“闲聊,漫谈”之意,故C)正确。
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