阅读理解

Passage 4

Unlike their American or European counterparts, car salesmen in Japan work hard to get a buyer. Instead of lying lazily around showrooms waiting for customers to drop by, many Japanese car salesmen still go out to get them. They walk wearily along the streets cars door-to-door. New customers are hunted with fruit and cakes on their birthdays. But life is getting tough, and not just because new-car sales are falling.

With more Japanese women (who often control the household budget) going out to work, the salesmen increasingly find nobody at home when they call. That means another visit in the evening or the weekend. Then they face an extra problem: more people, especially the young, prefer to choose a new car from a showroom where they can compare different models.

Even as late as the mid-1980s, some 90% of new cars were sold door-to-door. In some rural areas most new cars are still sold in this way. But in the big cities more than half the new cars are now sold from showrooms.

Although investing in showrooms is expensive because of the high cost of Japanese land, dealers have little choice. A labor shortage and higher expectations among Japan’s workforce are making it difficult to hire door-to-door salesmen. Most of a Japanese car salesman’s working day is spent doing favors for customers, like arranging insurance or picking up vehicles for servicing, rather than actually selling.

Japan’s doorstep car salesmen are not about to vanish. The personal service they provide is so deep-rooted in Japan that they are likely to operate alongside the glittering new showrooms. The two systems even complement each other. What increasingly happens is that the showroom attracts the interest of a potential buyer, giving the footsore salesmen a firm lead to follow up with a home visit.

36.Japanese car sales usually do not wait at showrooms for customers to drop by; instead, ______.

A. they sell cars door-to-door

B. they buy presents for their customers

C. they enjoy themselves in recreation centers

D. they go out to do market researches

37.Implied but not stated: the competition in the car market is ______.

A. light B. moderate C. fierce D. unfair

38.Young people like to buy a new car ______.

A. at home

B. from a showroom

C. made in the U.S.A.

D. made in Japan

39.The squadron of Japanese car salesmen is reducing because of ______.

A. a labor shortage

B. higher expectations among Japan’s workforce

C. high cost land

D. both A and B

40.Japanese car salesmen do their customers many favors such as ______.

A. showing them around in an exhibition

B. arranging insurance

C. paying them a visit on weekends

D. selling old cars for them

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