Passage One
Failing demand for pop-up shops has caused a sharp rise. the number of un occupied retail units , a new survey shows.
Retail vacancy rates have risen above 10% for the first time since April 2015. according to a quarterly research report published on Monday by the British Retail Consortium and research group Springboard.
The rise to10.1%, from 9.6% in April 2016, is being partly blamed on start-up retail businesses taking short term leases, but then failing to convert them into longer agreements. Diane Wehrle, a director at Springboard, said "Between October and January vacancies went down, partly on the back of more pop-up shops. Since then, temporary lets have not become permanent lets. The key thing is to see if pop-ups start increasing again coming into Christmas.
Wehrle added that because of a surge in popularity of pop-up shops in the run-up to Christmas 2015, 2016 was the first year where vacancy figures had been affected by the closure of some of that type of unit.
Last year, telecoms company EE predicted that almost a third of new businesses launched in the UK between 2015 and 2017 would start as a pop-up, which tend to take six month leases on shops to test out a new business concept, or a marketing stunt for established brands.
The phenomenon was promoted by TV retail consultant Mary Portas and the then-communities minister Eric Piclcles as a way to regenerate high streets in the aftermath of the 2008 recession.
Earlier this month, the supermarket chain Tesco opened a pop-up wine bar in London's Soho district, serving only Tesco's finest wine range for two weeks.
Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium, added: "After a long run of shop vacancies being below 10%, seeing them rise over that threshold once again will be a bitter disappointment to many."
Failing demand for “pop-up” shops has caused a sharp rise in the number of unoccupied retail units, a new survey shows retail vacancy rates have risen above 10% for the first time since April 2015, according to a quarterly research report published on Monday by the British Retail Consortium and research group Springboard. The rise to 10.1%, from 9.6% in April 2016, is being partly blamed on start-up retail business taking short term leases, but then failing to convert them into longer agreement.
51.What is a pop- up shop? ( )
A. A shop that operates for a long time.
B. A shop that conducts temporary business
C. A shop that pops up on TV commercials
D. An online shop that pops up when you click on a link
【答案】B。第三段可知 The rise to10.1%, from 9.6% in April 2016, is being partly blamed on start-up retail businesses taking short term leases, but then failing to convert them into longer agreements.原文中没有详细的说明什么是 pop-up shop，但是我们可以通过几个人的描述和第三段知晓，pop-up 商店通常是在出现店铺空缺时才会大量出现，至于未来会不会转变成长期的商铺，并不确定。因此，观察四个选项，可知 pop-up 新兴起的，在这里指的是那些刚建立不久的小商铺。故正确答案是 B。
52. Which of the following months witnesses the lowest retail vacancy rates? ( )
A. November
B. April
C. May
D. February
【答案】B。哪个月份是零售空缺率最低的月份。因此定位原文月份及空缺率的数字进行查找。定位至第三段，The rise to10.1%, from 9.6% in April 2016, is being partly blamed on start-up retail businesses taking short term leases, but then failing to convert them into longer agreements.可知 9.6%是最低的，即 2016 年的四月份。故正确选项为 B。
53. What is the correct understanding of Wehrle’s observation? ( )
A. High retail vacancy rates result from low turnover rate of pop-up shops.
B. Shortly before Christmas 2015, people started to favor pop-up shops.
C. 2016 was the first year that the surge in the popularity of pop-up shops
D. Closing down some of the pop-up shops resulted in a decline in vacancy rates in 2016.
【答案】D。A 选项错误，定位第四段，Wehrle 没有明确说空缺率与转化率之间存在关系。B 选项错误，定位第四段 Since then, temporary lets have not become permanent lets. The key thing is to see if pop-ups start increasing again coming into Christmas.可知，Wehrle 并没有说人们会支持弹出式的商铺。C 选项定位第五段 Wehrle added that because of a surge in popularity of pop-up shops in the run-up to Christmas 2015, 2016 was the first year where vacancy figures had been affected by the closure of some of that type of unit.可知，2015 年弹出式商店人气飙升，后提及 2016 年，表示 2016 年弹出式商店的增加影响了空置率，因此，2016 年是第一次影响空置率的第一年，C 错误。故正确选择为 D。
54. Which of the following is not true about pop-up shops? ( )
A. They are prompted to revitalize retail business after economic recession
B. They are conductive to promoting the popularity of products.
C. They are all established by start-up business
D. They offer litmus test for novel business models
【答案】B。A 选项“在经济衰退后，他们被要求重振零售业务。” C 选项“它们都是由初创企业建立的”，D 选项“他们为新颖的商业模式提供试金石”。B 选项“它们有助于提高产品的知名度。”原文并没有提及人气度的问题，只有一处可以定位 popularity, 第五 段 Wehrle added that because of a surge in popularity of pop-up shops in the run-up to Christmas 2015 也与提高人气度无关。故正确选项为 B。
55. What would be most helpful to reduce vacancy rates? ( )
A. to build fewer premises
B. to convert pop-up shops into permanent ones
C. to close down pop-up shops
D. to encourage new business to start more pop-up shops
【答案】B。对降低空置率有帮助的是?A 选项“建造更少的房屋。”与建房子多少无关，A 错误。B 选项“将弹出式商店转换为永久性商店”。原文第三段 The rise to10.1%, from9.6% in April 2016, is being partly blamed on start-up retail businesses taking short term leases, but then failing to convert them into longer agreements.可知，如果把短期租约的店铺转化为长期协议，是可以有效减少空置率的。CD 原文没有提及。故正确答案为 B。
