Wanted a Large Biscuit Tin

更新：2023-11-22

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[00:01.51]Lesson 26
[00:03.81]Wanted: a large biscuit tin
[00:13.48]Who won the prize for the biggest biscuit?
[00:18.81]No one can avoid being influenced by advertisements.
[00:23.11]Much as we may pride ourselvs on our good taste,
[00:26.53]we are no longer free to choose the things we want,
[00:29.82]for advertising exerts a subtle influence on us.
[00:34.69]In their efforts to persuade us to buy this or that product,
[00:38.91]advertisers have made a close study of human nature
[00:42.68]and have classified all our little weaknesses.
[00:47.10]Advertisers discovered years ago that all of us love to get something for nothing.
[00:53.00]An advertisement which begins with the magic word FREE can rarely go wrong.
[00:59.59]These days, advertisers not only offer free samples,
[01:04.08]but free cars, free houses, and free trips round the world as well.
[01:11.32]They devise hundreds of competitions which will enable us to win huge sums of money.
[01:17.87]Radio and television have made it possible for advertisers
[01:22.05]to capture the attention of millions of people in this way.
[01:26.77]During a radio programme, a company of biscuit manufacturers
[01:31.29]once asked listeners to bake biscuits and send them to their factory.
[01:37.00]They offered to pay $10 a pound for the biggest biscuit baked by a listener.
[01:43.57]The response to this competition was tremendous.
[01:47.14]Before long, biscuits of all shapes and sizes began arriving at the factory.
[01:53.45]One lady brought biscuit on a wheelbarrow. It weighed nearly 500 pounds.
[02:00.83]A little later, a man came along with a biscuit which occupied the whole boot of his car.
[02:07.77]All the biscuits that were sent were carefully weighed.
[02:11.85]The largest was 713 pounds. It seemed certain that this would win the prize.
[02:20.02]But just before the competition closed,
[02:22.79]a lorry arrived at the factory with a truly colossal biscuit which weighed 2, 400 pounds.
[02:31.49]It had been baked by a college student
[02:33.73]who had used over 1, 000 pounds of flour, 800 pounds of sugar,
[02:39.64]200 pounds of fat, and 400 pounds of various other ingredients.
[02:45.66]It was so heavy that a crane had to be used to remove it from the lorry.
[02:51.12]The manufacturers had to pay more money than they had anticipated,
[02:56.15]for they bought the biscuit from the student for $24, 000.