Conversation One
W: What are you doing?
M: [19]I'm ordering some filing cabinets out of a catalog.
W: What do you need them for?
M: There's so much stuff piling up in my dormitory room. If I don't do something soon, I won't be able to move in there.
W: Do you usually order from a catalog?
M: Sometimes. Why?
W: Oh, it's just in the history class today we were talking about how the catalog sales business first got started in the US. A Chicago retailer, Montgomery Ward started it in the late 1800s. [21]It was really popular among farmers. It was difficult for them to make it to the big city stores so they ordered from catalogs.
M: Was Ward the only one in the business?
W: At first, [20]but another person named Richard Sears started his own catalog after he heard how much money Ward was making.
M: What made them so popular?
W: [21]Farmers trusted Ward and Sears for one thing. They delivered the products the farmers paid for and even refunded the price of things the farmers weren't satisfied with. The catalogs became so popular that in some countries school teachers even used them as textbooks.
M: [22]Textbooks?
W: Yeah, [22]students practice spelling the names and adding up the prices of things in the catalogs.
M: Was everybody that thrilled about it?
W: That's doubtful. Say they drove some small store owners out of business. Sears and Ward sold stuff in such large quantities. They were able to undercut the prices at some small family owned stores.

答案解析：
Questions 19 to 22 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
19. What is the conversation mainly about?
[B]解析：盡管四個選項在對話中都有提及，但A、C、D只是對話的一部分，只有B可以涵蓋對話中的所有內容。長對話的主旨大意題，關鍵是聽對話的第一個話輪（對話雙方各發言一次叫一個話輪）。由order，catalog兩個關鍵詞即可推出答案是B。盡管C中也有catalog，但它提到textbook，沒有涵蓋原文主要內容，而只是其中一個細節。
20. Why did Richard Sears start his own business in catalog?
[C]解析：對話中女士說到：“在得知Ward賺了多少錢以后，另一個名叫Richard Sears的人也開展自己的郵購業務。”可見，Sears是為了賺大錢，所以選C。“轉折but處出題”。沒有理由聽不懂“how much money Ward was making”！profitable是make money的同義替換。
21. Who were the main customers of Sears and Ward's business?
[A]解析：女士說：“郵購業務很受農場主歡迎”，并說“農場主們依賴Ward和Sears”。可知該業務的主要客戶是農場主。本題較簡單，對話中多次提到farmers。
22. Why was the catalog used as textbooks?
[A]解析：男士很驚奇地問：“Textbooks?”，下文女士給出了解釋：“是啊，學生們用郵購表中事物的名稱練習拼寫，用其中的價格練習加法運算。”所以選 A。適用“聽到什么選什么”的原則。spelling與adding兩個詞一定會很“奪耳”！