陕西咸阳市2016高考英语(二轮)阅读理解选练(1) 阅读理解 Yao Yunchun, a 24-year-old author who frequently shops online in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, has never been so impatient for her parcels as she is now. She has been counting every day while she waits for the products she ordered to arrive, as many deliveries have been delayed over the past month. “It took more than a week for one of my parcels to arrive from Beijing while, in the past, it took only four days,” said Yao. She is just one of the many who like shopping on Taobao. com, the country’s largest online shopping site, which has posted apologetic announcements to customers for the delays in deliveries. “Many parcels are still at the airport and cannot be delivered on time, but I think I will do my best.” Taobao clothes retailer (零售商) iM Shop said on its website. Meanwhile, major express delivery companies in China have put up notices saying they are ready to cope with the delay in recent days. “It was mainly caused by a big increase in online shopping orders because of discounts offered by e-commerce companies,” said Chen Shousong, an analyst with domestic research company Analysys International. Taobao Mall, the country’s largest business-to-customer shopping site by market share, for example, rolled out a large-scale discount on November 11 in which 150 brands sold their products at half price. The discount attracted the attention of many e-shopping enthusiasts who spent 936 million yuan ($142 million) in just one day. The recent shortage of diesel oil, which restricts delivery vehicles’ capacity, and bad weather conditions in North China, also added to an already overloaded express delivery market. |