10.
According to the dialog, answer the questions.
These
days, "What do you want to do when you grow up?" is the wrong
question to ask children in the USA. The question should be: "What job are
you doing now?"American
companies are employing more and more young people as consultants(顾问)to evaluate(评估)products
for child consumers. The 12-to-19 age group spends more than $100 billion a
year in the USA. Specialist agencies help manufacturers ask kids about all the
latest trends in clothes, food and other markets. One company, Teenage Research
Unlimited, has groups of teenagers who give their decisions on products like
jeans. Another company, Doyle Research Associated, holds two-hour meetings in a
room called the "imaginarium". Children are encouraged to play games
to get into a creative mood. They have to write down any ideas which come into
their heads.
Some
manufacturers prefer to do their own market research. The software company
Microsoft runs a weekly "Kid's Council" at its headquarter in
Seattle, where a group of school children give their decision on the latest
products and suggest new ones. They are called young consultants. One
11-yearold consultant, Andrew Cooledge, told them they should make more
computer games which are suitable for both boys and girls. Payments for the
work are increasingly attractive, Andrew Cooledge was paid$250 and given some
software. However, even if their ideas are valuable, the children will never
make money. They cannot have the copyright to their ideas.