The physical distribution of products has two primary aspects: transportation and storage.
Both aspects are highly developed and specialized phases of marketing. The costs of both
trans-porting and storing are built into the prices of products. Transportation can be by truck,
rail-way, ship, or barge. For some items, such as exotic plants and flowers, or when rapid delivery
is essential, air freight may be used.
Storage, or warehousing, is a necessary function because production and consumption
of goods rarely match: items generally are not sold as quickly as they are made. Inventories build
up, both in warehouses and at retail establishments, before the foods are sold. The transporta-tion function is involved in bringing goods to a warehouse and taking them from it to retail stores.
Storage performs the service of stabilizing market price. If, for example, no agricultural
product could be stored, all food would have to be put on the market immediately. This would, of
course, create a glut and lower prices drastically. There would be an immediate benefit to
consumers, but in the long run they would suffer. Farmers, because of low prices, would be forced
off the land, and the amount of food produced would decrease. This, in turn, would raise consumer
prices.
Warehouses for storage are of several types. Private warehouses are owned by manufactur-ers. Public warehouses, in spite of their name, are privately owned facilities, but they are in-dependent of manufacturer ownership. Generalmerchandise warehouses store a great variety of
products. Cold-storage warehouses store perishable goods, especially food products. Grain ele-vators are a kind of warehouse used to keep wheat and other grains from spoiling. A bonded
warehouse is one that stores foods, frequently imported, on which taxes must be paid before they
are sold. Cigarettes and alcoholic beverages are common examples.
The distribution center is a more recently developed kind of warehouse. Many large com- panics have several manufacturing plants, sometimes located outside the country. Each plant does
not make every company product but specializes in one or more of them. The distribution center
allows a manufacturer to bring together all product lines in one place. Its purpose is to minimize
storage and to ease the flow of goods from manufacturers to retailers rather than build up extensive
inventories. It reduces costs by speeding up product turnover. Very large corporations will have
several distribution centers regionally or internationally based
1. The main subject of this passage is______.
A) transportation and storage
B) storage of products
C) distribution center
D) two main aspects of product distribution
2. Warehousing is important in that ______.
A) inventories build up before the goods are sold
B) the prices will go down
C) more goods are produced than can be consumed
D) the food has to be put on the market immediately
3. How many types of warehouses for storage are discussed in the passage?
A) 3.
B) 4.
C) 6.
D) 7.
4. Where might one find meat and milk?
A) Grain elevator.
B) Cold-storage warehouse.
C) Private warehouse.
D) Bonded warehouse.
5. What is NOT true of a distribution center?
A) It is a relatively new type of warehouse.
B) Product is replaced more quickly and costs are down.
C) Some distribution centers are not built in the sane country as the factory
D) It builds up extensive inventories to minimize storage.
文章大意：
這篇文章講產品實物分配中的兩個環節，運輸和儲存，運輸環節只在第一段和第二段最后一句略述，從第二段(除最后一句)到第五段詳細討論產品的儲存問題。其中二、三段討論存儲的原因(生產與消費不同步)和作用(穩定市場價格);第四段介紹倉庫的類型;第五段講新近發展起來的一種倉庫——分配中心——的功能和特點。
答案解析：
[1]D主旨題。第一段第一句點明主題，產品的實物分配主要由運輸和儲存兩方面構成。
選項A太籠統，B、C均為某一段的重點，不能概括全文，故[D]正確。
[2]C根據第二段第一句，此題考察的是儲存的原因——生產和消費不同步，故選 [C]。
[3]D根據第四段，共講了7種類型的倉庫，故選[D)。
[4]B細節題。從第四段第五句可知，肉、蛋為食品，故應選[B)。
[5]D根據最后一段倒數第三句，分配中心是為了減少儲存，減輕流通過程中的壓力，
而不是為了囤積食品，故[D)與原文不符。
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