Many adults in the United States can remember crying the nursery rhyme in the street "Hot cross buns!" But only a few people realize this was an early form of advertising.
Written advertisements probably began with hieroglyphics more than three thousand years ago, but only a few people could read these symbols. So merchants made signs with pictures or hung their tools over their doors to identify their businesses.
In the time of the Roman Empire, wall paintings were a popular form of advertisement. An ad for a play, or some other performance was painted on part of a building or on a wall around a city. People often advertised a house for rent or a freshwater bath in this way, too.
Today, large wall signs are still used for outdoor advertising. But outdoor advertising is only a small fraction of the total advertising. About forty per -cent of all ads are printed in daily newspapers. Radio commercials also provide this kind of information. Some people think they are the best form of advertising because radio broadcasts reach almost everyone in a nation.
Advertisements in magazines and on television reach many people, too. However, usually only large companies can advertise on a national network, because TV commercials shown across the country can cost many thousands of dollars.
Then there are ads that are almost part of daily living. If you use public transportation, you will see large printed ads, called ear cards, on buses and taxis and in trains. Ads are painted on the trucks that deliver products people are buying or selling.
小题1:Which is the passage mainly discussing?
A．Modern advertising
B．Significance of advertising
C．Development of advertising
D．Origin of advertising小题2:Which of the following is the original form of advertising?
A．Signs with pictures
B．Wall signs
C．Street crying
D．Wall painting小题3:Which of the following can best replace the underlined word “hieroglyphics” in Paragraph 2?
A．A signal
B．A signature
C．A symbol
D．A form小题4:Why did the merchants make signs with pictures or hang their tools over their doors ?
A．To have their houses decorated.
B．To make their business known by public.
C．To enable people to learn how to read
D．To advertise their houses to rent小题5:Radio commercials are the best form of advertising because ____________.
A．they can be heard everywhere in a country
B．they are cheap and fast
C．they are most recently developed
D．they can be understood by those who can neither read nor write