[00:01.080]--- lesson 26 Wanted: a large biscuit tin
[00:07.600]--- Listen to the tape then answer the question below.
[00:13.040]--- Who won the prize for the biggest biscuit?
[00:18.360]No one can avoid being influenced by advertisements.
[00:22.640]Much as we may pride ourselves on our good taste, we are no longer free to choose the things we want,
[00:29.440]for advertising exerts a subtle influence on us.
[00:34.240]In their efforts to persuade us to buy this or that product,
[00:38.520]advertisers have made a close study of human nature and have classified all our little weaknesses.
[00:46.640]Advertisers discovered years ago that all of us love to get something for nothing.
[00:52.600]An advertisement which begins with the magic word FREE can rarely go wrong.
[00:59.120]These days, advertisers not only offer free samples, but free cars, free houses, and free trips round the world as well.
[01:10.920]They devise hundreds of competitions which will enable us to win huge sums of money.
[01:17.440]Radio and television have made it possible for advertisers to capture the attention of millions of people in this way.
[01:26.280]During a radio programme, a company of biscuit manufacturers once asked listeners to bake biscuits and send them to their factory.
[01:36.600]They offered to pay $10 a pound for the biggest biscuit baked by a listener.
[01:43.160]The response to this competition was tremendous.
[01:46.680]Before long, biscuits of all shapes and sizes began arriving at the factory.
[01:53.040]One lady brought in a biscuit on a wheelbarrow.
[01:57.240]It weighed nearly 500 pounds.
[02:00.360]A little later, a man came along with a biscuit which occupied the whole boot of his car.
[02:07.320]All the biscuits that were sent were carefully weighed.
[02:11.440]The largest was 713 pounds ，
[02:15.880]It seemed certain that this would win the prize.
[02:19.560]But just before the competition closed, a lorry arrived at the factory with a truly colossal biscuit which weighed 2,400 pounds.
[02:31.040]It had been baked by a college student who had used over 1,000 pounds of flour, 800 pounds of sugar, 200 pounds of fat, and 400 pounds of various other ingredients.
[02:45.200]It was so heavy that a crane had to be used to remove it from the lorry.
[02:50.720]The manufacturers had to pay more money than they had anticipated, for they bought the biscuit from the student for $24,000.