Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct word or phrase that best fits each of the numbered blanks.

Question 2

Read the passage and complete the tasks that follow.

Black Friday is the Friday which follows Thanksgiving Day. Black Friday is celebrated in the United States as an official beginning of the Christmas shopping season. On the day, most shops open extremely early and offer promotional sales to boost the consumption, which is similar to Boxing Day after Christmas Day in Britain and many Commonwealth nations. For years, it was quite usual for retailers to open their shops at 6:00 a.m., but in the late 2000s many opened at 5:00 a.m. or even 4:00 a.m. The year 2011 witnessed a new extreme when several retailers opened at midnight. For non-retailer employees, they may have a day off work or choose to take a day from their annual leave on Black Friday. Some use this to make trips to see family members or friends who live in other areas or to go on vacation. Others use it to start shopping for the Christmas season. Black Friday is not a federal holiday, but is a public holiday in California and some other states in the United States.

Black Friday, to the police, is not a term of endearment. The name of the day originated in Philadelphia where it was first used by the Police Department to describe massive traffic jams and over-crowded sidewalks as the downtown stores were mobbed from opening to closing. Nowadays, Black Friday crowds that are hunting for bargains still give the police headaches. However, retailers do not appreciate the negative connotation associated with Black Friday. Therefore, there exists another explanation as to why it is called Black Friday. As they might put it, the term Black Friday came from an old way of recording business accounts: losses were recorded in red ink and profits in black ink. Therefore, an alternative explanation was made that retailers traditionally operated at a financial loss, or "in the red", from January through November, and "Black Friday" indicates the point where retailers begin to turn a profit, or get "in the black". It goes without saying that Black Friday positively means a profitable Friday to the retail industry.

Decide whether the following statements are True or False.

Black Friday and Boxing Day are celebrated on the same day.

Decide whether the following statements are True or False.

People take Black Friday off just to go shopping for Christmas season.

Decide whether the following statements are True or False.

Black Friday is made a state holiday in certain areas in the United States.

Choose the correct options (A, B, or C) for each of the following questions.

What is TRUE about the origin of Black Friday?

Choose the correct options (A, B, or C) for each of the following questions.

The word “mobbed” in paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to _______?

Decide whether the following statements are True or False.

Through time, many businesses have made their efforts to extend their opening time.

Decide whether the following statements are True or False.

It is common for retailers to take a day off on Black Friday.