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Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd cashed a record 213.5 billion yuan ($30.70 billion) in sales on Sunday during its 24-hour online retail frenzy Singles’ Day. Shoppers in China and across the world bought hot items including iPhones, furniture and milk powder, with Alibaba recording roughly $10 billion in sales in the first hour after midnight.
Singles’ Day, also called “Double 11” is the world’s biggest online sales event, selling more than U.S. shopping holidays Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined. The Chinese event was originally a novelty student holiday to celebrate being single, but has since grown into a month-long online shopping festival that celebrates with a 24-hour sale on November 11. This year, the company broke last year’s full-day sales record of 168 billion yuan in just under sixteen hours.
Despite the record, the annual sales growth rate fell from 39 percent to 27 percent, and the smallest rate in the event’s 10-year history. Earlier this month it cut down its full-year sales outlook by 4-6 percent, sending further chills through the company’s stock price, which has dropped roughly 16 percent this year after almost doubling in 2017. To compensate, the company will take measures in order to attract new buyers.
Despite the milder growth, executives were happy on Sunday at a press event in Shanghai, attended by roughly 800 journalists who watched a live-streamed ticker of the sales. “Today we reached 200 billion (yuan). But we have to change. We have to continue to change to reach 300 billion or 500 billion,” said chief executive Daniel Zhang.
During this year’s event the company said it worked with 180,000 brands across over 200 countries, and shortly before midnight on Sunday it had sent over a billion packages. The company settled roughly $1 billion within the first one minute and twenty five seconds after midnight.

1.What is the main idea of the first paragraph?

A Alibaba Group made a new record on Singles’ Day.

B Shoppers liked Alibaba Group much better than others.

C iPhones, furniture and milk powder become expensive.

D Chinese preferred to do their shopping after midnight.

解析：选A。主旨大意题。根据第一段第一句Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd cashed a record 213.5 billion yuan ($30.70 billion) in sales on Sunday during its 24-hour online retail frenzy Singles’ Day.可知该段主要叙述了阿里巴巴集团在双十一这天创造了新的销售记录，故选A。

2.What did Singles’ Day celebrate at first?

A Beginning of a shopping festival.

B Selling much more than Cyber Monday.

C Wanting to be the novelty students.

D Not having a boyfriend or a girlfriend.

解析：选D。细节理解题。根据第二段第二句的The Chinese event was originally a novelty student holiday to celebrate being single可知该节日起源于学生们庆祝单身的“光棍节”，故选D。

3.What problem does Alibaba Group face?

A No new buyers will come.

B Its stock price will double.

C Its annual sales growth becomes mild.

D No measures will be taken.

解析：选C。推理判断题。根据第三段第一句Despite the record, the annual sales growth rate fell from 39 percent to 27 percent, and the smallest rate in the event’s 10-year history.可推知该公司面临的问题是公司发展的增速放缓了，故选C。

4.What can we infer from Daniel Zhang’s words?

A The company has a great ambition.

B The company will encourage night shopping.

C The company makes more packages.

D The company won’t change its development.

解析：选A。推理判断题。根据第四段最后一句的We have to continue to change to reach 300 billion or 500 billion可推知该公司对未来充满了信心，有很大的抱负，故选A。