Once upon a time, goods were scarce and hard to get for all but extremely wealthy.<br />But industrial mass production has changed all of that.<br />Factories all over the world are pumping out bright and beautiful objects.<br />When everyone has to wait and save up for new things, owning them feels exciting and<br />special.<br />But when lovely things are available every day, they stop being a treat.<br />One of the features of consumer society is that we aim for social distinction through<br />what we own.<br />But if everyone has lots of stuff, how can we impress anyone with our purchases?<br />All of this takes the fun out of shopping and means there is a limit to how much consumerism<br />can grow.<br />This is deeply worrying to companies, and some of them have started to fight it by creating<br />artificial scarcity.<br />For example, in Singapore, a small café only opens on random days.<br />It sometimes stays closed for over a week at a time.<br />This trend means we can again own something rare.<br />But the risk for these companies is that in the world of so much stuff, if they make their<br />products too hard to get, we will just buy from someone else instead.<br />Once upon a time, goods were scarce and hard to get for all, but the extremely wealthy.<br />But industrial mass production has changed all of that.<br />Factories all over the world are pumping out bright and beautiful objects.<br />When everyone has to wait and save up for new things, owning them feels exciting and<br />special.<br />But when lovely things are available every day, they stop being a treat.<br />One of the features of consumer society is that we aim for social distinction through<br />what we own.<br />But if everyone has lots of stuff, how can we impress anyone with our purchases?<br />All of this takes the fun out of shopping and means there's a limit to how much consumerism<br />can grow.<br />This is deeply worrying to companies, and some of them have started to fight it by creating<br />artificial scarcity.<br />For example, in Singapore, a small café only opens on random days.<br />It sometimes stays closed for over a week at a time.<br />This trend means we can again own something rare.<br />But the risk for these companies is that in a world of so much stuff, if they make their<br />products too hard to get, we will just buy from someone else instead.<br />What can we know about consumer society from the passage?<br />Why does the small café in Singapore stay closed sometimes?
（1）
Choose the best answer
A . Goods are scarce and hard to get for ordinary consumers.B . People aim for social distinction through what they own.C . Manufacturers make more money by mass production.D . Growth of consumerism is restricted by artificial products
（2）
Choose the best answer
A . To cut down on labour costs by reducing working hours. B . To make customers feel they own something rare.C . To increase their coffee price without losing customers.D . To focus more on quality and customer satisfaction.
（3）
Choose the best answer
A . Consumer awareness.B . Social distinction.C . Artificial scarcity.D . Mass production.
