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互联网改变了我们购物的方式，但一些其他因素对传统零售商造成了更大的损害。
[难词扫障]
1. brick?and?mortar adj. 实体的
2. retailer n. 零售商
3. apocalypse n. 灾难
4. overstate v. 夸大
5. warehouse n. 仓库;大商店
6. disruptive adj. 毁灭性的;破坏性的
[原文复现]
It has been a tough decade for brick?and?mortar retailers， and matters seem only to be getting worse.
Despite a strong consumer economy， physical retailers closed more than 9，000 stores in 2019. Already this year， retailers have announced more than 1，200 intended closings， including 125 Macys stores.
Some people call what has happened to the shopping landscape “the retail apocalypse”. It is easy to blame it on the rise of e?commerce， which has thrived while physical stores struggle. And there is no denying that Amazon and other online retailers have changed consumer behavior entirely or that big retailers like Walmart and Target have tried to beef up their own online presence.
But this can be overstated.
To begin with， while e?commerce is growing sharply， it may not be nearly as big as you think. Online sales have grown tremendously in the last 20 years， rising from $5 billion per quarter to almost $155 billion per quarter. But Internet shopping still represents only 11 percent of the entire retail sales.
Furthermore， there are two major economic forces collectively that have had an even bigger impact on brick?and?mortar retail than the Internet has.
Big box stores： In the United States and elsewhere， we have changed where we shop—away from smaller stores like those in malls and toward stand?alone big box stores. Four years ago， the economists Chad Syverson and Ali Hortacsu at the University of Chicago analyzed the recent history of retail and found that the rise of warehouse supercenters was bigger than the rise of online commerce.
Here is the example that they gave. Over the 14 years through 2013， Amazon added $38 billion in sales while Costco added $50 billion and the Sams Club division of Walmart added $32 billion.
Amazon had the higher growth rate， but the bigger problem for most brick?and?mortar stores was other larger brick?and?mortar stores. This continued in 2019.
①Services instead of things： With every passing decade， Americans have spent proportionately less of income on things and more on services. ②Stores， malls， and even the mightiest online merchants emain the great sellers of things. ③Since 1960， Americans went from spending 5 percent of our income on health to almost 18 percent， government statistics show. ④Americans spend more on education， entertainment， business services and all sorts of other products that arent sold in traditional retail stores. That trend has continued for a long time. In 1920， Americans spent more than half their income on food （38 percent） and clothing （17 percent） and almost all of that was through traditional retail stores. Today， food eaten outside the home and in it accounts for 10 percent of spending and clothing just 2.4 percent.
Economists debate theories of why we have shifted to services and away from goods but no one questions that it has happened. It means that over time， retailers selling things will have to run harder and harder just to stay in place.
In short， the broad forces hitting retail are more a lesson in economics than in the power of disruptive technology. Its a lesson all retailers will have to learn someday—even the mighty Amazon.
文章來源： 《纽约时报》
Part 1 整体感知
本文是一篇议论文，通过描述超级商场的兴起以及人们对服务的需求，论证了虽然电子商务的兴起对线下实体零售商造成了一定的冲击，但其他因素对实体店的影响实际更大。
篇章结构梳理：
[Structure Paragraph（s） Main idea Introduction Para. 1～3 ●It has been a tough decade for brick?and?mortar retailers and people tend to blame it on the rise of e?commerce. Analysis Para. 4～6 ●The effects of e?commerce can be overstated. Reasons Para. 7～12 ●There are two major economic forces collectively that have had an even bigger impact on brick?and?mortar retail： big box stores
[难词扫障]
1. brick?and?mortar adj. 实体的
2. retailer n. 零售商
3. apocalypse n. 灾难
4. overstate v. 夸大
5. warehouse n. 仓库;大商店
6. disruptive adj. 毁灭性的;破坏性的
[原文复现]
It has been a tough decade for brick?and?mortar retailers， and matters seem only to be getting worse.
Despite a strong consumer economy， physical retailers closed more than 9，000 stores in 2019. Already this year， retailers have announced more than 1，200 intended closings， including 125 Macys stores.
Some people call what has happened to the shopping landscape “the retail apocalypse”. It is easy to blame it on the rise of e?commerce， which has thrived while physical stores struggle. And there is no denying that Amazon and other online retailers have changed consumer behavior entirely or that big retailers like Walmart and Target have tried to beef up their own online presence.
But this can be overstated.
To begin with， while e?commerce is growing sharply， it may not be nearly as big as you think. Online sales have grown tremendously in the last 20 years， rising from $5 billion per quarter to almost $155 billion per quarter. But Internet shopping still represents only 11 percent of the entire retail sales.
Furthermore， there are two major economic forces collectively that have had an even bigger impact on brick?and?mortar retail than the Internet has.
Big box stores： In the United States and elsewhere， we have changed where we shop—away from smaller stores like those in malls and toward stand?alone big box stores. Four years ago， the economists Chad Syverson and Ali Hortacsu at the University of Chicago analyzed the recent history of retail and found that the rise of warehouse supercenters was bigger than the rise of online commerce.
Here is the example that they gave. Over the 14 years through 2013， Amazon added $38 billion in sales while Costco added $50 billion and the Sams Club division of Walmart added $32 billion.
Amazon had the higher growth rate， but the bigger problem for most brick?and?mortar stores was other larger brick?and?mortar stores. This continued in 2019.
①Services instead of things： With every passing decade， Americans have spent proportionately less of income on things and more on services. ②Stores， malls， and even the mightiest online merchants emain the great sellers of things. ③Since 1960， Americans went from spending 5 percent of our income on health to almost 18 percent， government statistics show. ④Americans spend more on education， entertainment， business services and all sorts of other products that arent sold in traditional retail stores. That trend has continued for a long time. In 1920， Americans spent more than half their income on food （38 percent） and clothing （17 percent） and almost all of that was through traditional retail stores. Today， food eaten outside the home and in it accounts for 10 percent of spending and clothing just 2.4 percent.
Economists debate theories of why we have shifted to services and away from goods but no one questions that it has happened. It means that over time， retailers selling things will have to run harder and harder just to stay in place.
In short， the broad forces hitting retail are more a lesson in economics than in the power of disruptive technology. Its a lesson all retailers will have to learn someday—even the mighty Amazon.
文章來源： 《纽约时报》
Part 1 整体感知
本文是一篇议论文，通过描述超级商场的兴起以及人们对服务的需求，论证了虽然电子商务的兴起对线下实体零售商造成了一定的冲击，但其他因素对实体店的影响实际更大。
篇章结构梳理：
[Structure Paragraph（s） Main idea Introduction Para. 1～3 ●It has been a tough decade for brick?and?mortar retailers and people tend to blame it on the rise of e?commerce. Analysis Para. 4～6 ●The effects of e?commerce can be overstated. Reasons Para. 7～12 ●There are two major economic forces collectively that have had an even bigger impact on brick?and?mortar retail： big box stores