节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-10-24
难易度:High
关键字:swipe, optional, personalize, inventory, database, brick-and-mortar
(Music).
Hello, and welcome to Studio Classroom.
My name is Gabe.
And my name is Carolyn.
And your English will improve today.
We're continuing a lesson called New Ways to Shop for Clothes.
Already we talked about one company, Hointer, where you can walk in with your
smartphone and shop for clothes in a very unique way.
We're going to continue learning about Hointer in our lesson today and even
watch a little video.
But for right now, do you ever go shopping?
And uh, what kinds of things do you shop for when you go shopping?
Carolyn?
Well, I used to go clothes shopping a lot.
Now I don't go too often.
But usually I just go shopping for groceries for things that I want to use right
away like food.
OK, I... I'm there with you.
I go grocery shopping.
I need things like toothpaste and toilet paper and that kind of stuff, stuff
that's not too expensive.
Sometimes when I go shopping, I might buy a gift for somebody.
But a lot of people like to buy clothes.
And if that's you, well, we're going to continue learning about Hointer and
another company here that will give you a very unique shopping experience.
Let's get started.
(Music).
New Ways to Shop for Clothes.
Purchases at Hointer are made with a swipe of a credit card.
And interacting with a salesperson is optional!
This allows Hointer to hire fewer people and focus on their ultimate goal:
developing technology that supports a retail revolution.
Men's clothing retailer Bonobos has come up with a more personalized shopping
experience.
Although it is - in fact - an online retailer, Bonobos has decided to open a
handful of brick-and-mortar stores called Guideshops.
Shoppers make an appointment online before arriving at a Guideshop, where they
receive one-on-one attention from a fitting guide.
(Music).
We will continue learning about Bonobos soon.
But first, let's go back and finish up about Hointer, this very interesting
software company that happens to sell designer jeans.
We read: Purchases at Hointer are made with a swipe of a credit card.
So there's no cash; you don't use any money.
But you do swipe your credit card.
Let's look at that word right there from our Word Bank: a verb, swipe.
What does it mean if you swipe something, Gabe?
Well, that means you're taking it in a very fast motion.
So if you swipe your credit card, that means you're just taking your credit card
and putting it through the slot when you are making your purchase.
This word can be a noun or a verb.
We see it here as a noun: the swipe of a credit card.
Or you can swipe something.
You might swipe something off your desk really quickly that you need.
That's right.
So when you get on and off of a bus, you need to swipe your travel card, your
"easy pass" in Taipei.
That's right.
Now here we're talking about purchases that are made.
So you can make purchases at Hointer.
Let's continue here.
And interacting with a salesperson is optional!
OK, it's easy, all you have to do is swipe your credit card.
And you don't even need to interact with a salesperson if you don't want to.
That's right.
It is optional.
And that is another word from our Word Bank.
If something is optional, that means that it is not required.
You can do it if you want to, but you don't need to.
That's right.
Sometimes it's encouraged to take a certain test.
But some of those tests are optional.
Maybe you are filling out a piece of paper with information about yourself.
Some things are required, like your name and your social security number and
your email address.
And maybe it'll say telephone number is optional.
You don't need to write that down if you don't want to.
That's right.
And many times when you're buying clothes, it might be an option to gift-wrap
your purchase.
Or it is optional.
You don't have to, but you can if you want.
Well, right now it is time for us to watch a great video to see just how buying
clothes at this store works.
OK. So we're walking in.
And here's a store.
Wow! Immediately I'm hit with a bunch of jeans.
I can see what's going on here, the different finishes, the different brands.
I can see different pockets.
Wow, this is great.
And uh, and I believe I have to download an app for this, so let me just
actually take out my phone.
And uh...
OK, here it is! I already have it.
Now go ahead and scan.
All right. Let's do this.
This looks good.
Right here.
There it is. It's scanned.
And then I'm going to hit that I want this size.
And I'm going to go ahead and try it on.
And it's going to be in fitting room number 3.
Let's go to fitting room number 3.
Fitting room number 3.
Look at that!
Those are the very pants that I just scanned and in the size that I selected.
That's amazing!
OK. Now if you can give me a moment, I'll try these on.
I would um... I would be ready to buy these.
The most amazing moment was when you walk into the...
It tells you which fitting room, and they're there.
They're there!
Well, actually I had a pretty fantastic experience.
I was skeptical at first because I'm actually the kind of guy that enjoys uh,
sort of meandering around a big, comfy store that's softly carpeted with piano
music...
Well, thank you, video.
That was a very interesting and informative video we saw about Hointer.
And we saw the guy as he took us through Hointer, took us through these steps
that we learned about in yesterday's lesson.
Well, before the video we were saying that interacting with a salesperson is
optional.
And let's continue here.
This allows Hointer to hire fewer people and focus on their ultimate goal:
developing technology that supports a retail revolution.
Well, this is a very big idea and not something that is easy, but they are
certainly trying.
And they seem to be very popular among customers so far.
Well, right now it is time for us to look a little bit closer at that sentence
with Steve and Ken in the Information Cloud.
Yesterday we talked about how people line up in America.
And one place that you'll often see lines of people is in the supermarket.
Mmhm.