共用题干

共用题干
How Technology Pushes Down Prices

1 Prices have fallen in the food business because of advances in food production and distribution tech-
nology.Consumers have benefited greatly from those advances.People who predicted that the world would
run out of food were wrong. We are producing more and more food with less and less capital.Food is there-
fore more plentiful and cheaper than it has ever been.Spending on food compared with other goods has fallen
for many years,and continues to drop.
2 Supermarkets have helped push down prices mainly because of their scale.Like any big business,
they can invest in IT systems that make them efficient. And their size allows them to buy in bulk.As super-
markets get bigger,the prices get lower.
3 Huge retail companies such as Wal-Mart have tremendous power and they can put pressure on pro-
ducers to cut their margins.As a result,some producers have had to make cuts.In recent years,Unilever
has cut its workforce by 33,000 to 245,000 and dropped lots of its minor brands as part of its"path to
growth"strategy.Cadbury has shut nearly 20 per cent of its 133 factories and cut 10 per cent of its 55,000
global workforce.These cuts help keep costs down,and the price of food stays low.
4 Does cheap food make people unhealthy?Cheap food may encourage people to eat more.Food corn-
panies certainly think that giving people more food for their money makes them buy more.Giving people bigger
portions is an easy way of making them feel they have got a better deal.That is why portions have got larger
and larger. In America,soft drinks came in 80z(225 g)cans in the past,then 120z(350g),and now
come in 200z(550g)cans.If a company can sell you an 80z portion for$7,they can sell you a 120z
portion for$8.The only extra cost to the company is the food,which probably costs 25 cents.
5 Now companies are under pressure to stop selling bigger portions for less money.But it is hard to
change the trend.

Big supermarkets can offer food at lower prices because they can buy in__________.
A:their workforce
B:huge portions
C:large quantities
D:their money
E:a good bargain
F: minor brands