2008.12
Passage Two
Questions 62 to 66 are based on the following passage.
High-quality customer service is preached (宣扬) by many, but actually keeping customers happy is easier said than done.
Shoppers seldom complain to the manager or owner of a retail store, but instead will alert their friends, relatives, co-workers, strangers—and anyone who will listen.
Store managers are often the last to hear complaints, and often find out only when their regular customers decide to frequent their competitors, according to a study jointly conducted by Verde Group and Wharton School.
“Storytelling hurts retailers and entertains consumers,” said Paula Courtney, President of the Verde Group. “The store loses the customer, but the shopper must also find a replacement.”
On average, every unhappy customer will complain to at least four others, and will no longer visit the specific store. For every dissatisfied customer, a store will lose up to three more due to negative review. The resulting “snowball effect” can be disastrous to retailers.
According to the research, shoppers who purchased clothing encountered the most problems. Ranked second and third were grocery and electronics customers.
The most common complaints include filled parking lots, cluttered (塞满了的) shelves, overloaded racks, out-of-stock items, long check-out lines, and rude salespeople.
During peak shopping hours, some retailers solved parking problems by getting moonlighting (业余兼职的) local police to work as parking attendants. Some hired flag wavers to direct customers to empty parking spaces. This guidance eliminated the need for customers to circle the parking lot endlessly, and avoided confrontation between those eyeing the same parking space.
Retailers can relieve the headaches by redesigning store layouts, pre-stocking sales items, hiring speedy and experienced cashiers, and having sales representatives on hand to answer questions.
Most importantly, salespeople should be diplomatic and polite with angry customers.
“Retailers who’re responsive and friendly are more likely to smooth over issues than those who aren’t so friendly,” said Professor Stephen Hoch. “Maybe something as simple as a greeter at the store entrance would help.”
Customers can also improve future shopping experiences by filing complaints to the retailer, instead of complaining to the rest of the world. Retailers are hard-pressed to improve when they have no idea what is wrong.
注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。
62. Why are store managers often the last to hear complaints?
A) Most customers won’t bother to complain even if they have had unhappy experiences.
B) Customers would rather relate their unhappy experiences to people around them.
C) Few customers believe the service will be improved.
D) Customers have no easy access to store managers.
63. What does Paula Courtney imply by saying “…the shopper must also find a replacement” (Line 2, Para. 4)
A) New customers are bound to replace old ones.
B) It is not likely the shopper can find the same products in other stores.
C) Most stores provide the same kind of service.
D) Not complaining to manager causes the shopper some trouble too.
64. Shop owners often hire moonlighting police as parking attendants so that shoppers________.
A) can stay longer browsing in the store
B) won’t have trouble parking their cars
C) won’t have any worrier about security
D) can find their cars easily after shopping
65. What contributes most to smoothing over issues with customers?
A) Manners of the salespeople.
B) Hiring of efficient employees
C) Huge supply of goods for sale.
D) Design of store layout.
66. To achieve better shopping experiences, customers are advised to ________.
A) exert pressure on stores to improve their service
B) settle their disputes with stores in a diplomatic way
C) voice their dissatisfaction to store managers directly
D) shop around and make comparisons between stores
参考答案:
这篇材料讲的是超市改善服务的问题，按内容可分为改善原因、改善内容和改善方法三个部分。
在前五段作者提出超市服务必须加以改善的原因。第一段仅是引语，第二段告诉我们劣质服务的第一个直接结果：服务顾客会把抱怨向身边的人倾诉（anyone who will listen），而不是超市管理人员。下一段是该结果的延伸，即心有不满的顾客下一步要做的就是转而光顾其他商场。第五段内容较多，较为详细地分析了顾客的行为和商场的损失。
作者在此后的两段列举了商场的种种令顾客不满的服务，如停车位爆满（filled parking lots），货架拥挤（overloaded racks），缺货（out-of-stock items）等等。
最后的五个段落针对引起顾客不满的各个方面提出了解决办法。首先是停车场爆满问题，作者建议雇用一些业余兼职的当地警察来管理停车场（getting moonlighting local police to work as parking attendants），或者安排一些人使用旗子（flag wavers）进行指挥。
接下来是货品摆放、缺货和排队问题的解决，作者提出重新摆放、预存、雇用熟练收银员等办法（redesigning store layouts, pre-stocking sales items, hiring speedy and experienced cashiers）。
除此之外，作者还特别提到了销售人员的态度问题，指出礼貌、圆滑的销售仪态相对其他方法要更为重要。
以上的几种解决方案全是从商场角度出发，在最后一段，作者从顾客的角度提出了一些建议，以改善顾客自身的购物体验，那就是直接向商场提出自己的意见，而不是向自己身边的其他人（filing complaints to the retailer, instead of complaining to the rest of the world）。
62. B
题目问为什么商场经理往往是最后一个听到抱怨的人。
A， 大多数顾客即便发生不愉快的经历也不费力去抱怨。
B， 顾客宁愿把不愉快的经历说给身边的人听。
C， 很少有顾客会认为服务能够改善。
D， 顾客很难见到商场经理。
题目中的关键信息是store managers和complaints，在前几个小段中寻找这两个关键词，可以发现第二段讲到了complaints，大意是顾客很少会向经理们抱怨，而是会提醒（alert）他们的朋友、亲戚、同事等。这里的alert也就是向人抱怨、劝其不要去该商场的意思。第三段开头恰好与题目相合：经理们是最后一个听到抱怨的人。但此后作者没有解释原因，而是指出这一现象下一步的后果：老客户都转而去了别的商场（frequent their competitors——frequent为“常去某处”的意思）。下面的几段进一步分析这种现象，也没有提到原因。这样的话，只能把第二段but instead后面的句子视为原因，也就是顾客更愿意把牢骚说给身边的人听。
四个选项中，A的说法和文章内容正好相反，顾客们实际上经常抱怨，只是抱怨对象不是经理，而是身边的人。C和D的说法在文中都完全找不到着落点，可以排除。
63. D
题目问Courtney所说的the shopper must also find a replacement暗示了什么。
A， 新顾客必定会取代老顾客。
B， 顾客不太可能在其他商场找到相同的商品。
C， 多数商场提供同一类服务。
D， 不向经理抱怨也给顾客带来了麻烦。
首先了解这句话的字面意思：顾客也必须找到替代者（替代品）。这里的replacement指的应该是其他商场，即顾客寻找新的商场来替代令自己不愉快的商场（这样就可以排除A，因为A把replacement理解为新顾客替代老顾客）。
其次来了解上下文环境。这一段的开头说到讲故事（即四处诉苦）会伤害商场，同时让顾客愉悦。四处诉苦会使更多的人不来该商场购物，而顾客诉苦的同时发泄了情绪，排解了不满，确实会令其心情愉悦。开头一句话说得合情合理。
后面一句讲到商场会失去顾客（loses the customer），但顾客也必须找到一个替代品。前半句没有问题，但后半句里的两个词值得人寻味，即but和also。在此事中，我们看到受到损失的似乎只有商场，顾客最多只是换一家商场而已，但在此时说话人使用了but在两句话间表示转折，同时使用also把顾客和商场放在同等地位上，暗示顾客也同商场一样受到了损失。损失就是顾客需要重新寻找商场。
为什么重新寻找商场就是一种损失呢？是如同B所说的因为在其他商场里少有同样的商品？还是如同C所说的各商场天下乌鸦一般黑，找到一家令顾客满意的商场很难？都有可能，但在文中没有任何有关的信息可以证明B或者C。再看D，“不向经理抱怨”反过来就是指“向身边的人抱怨”，D的意思就相当于向身边的人抱怨给自己带来了麻烦，这里的麻烦（trouble）也就是我们上面所说的损失。根据后文的内容，顾客如果向经理进言，是可以改善对方的服务，进而使自己继续留在该商场，避免重新寻找商场的麻烦。由此可以判断，D的说法是有道理的。我们也可以回答为什么重新寻找商场就是一种损失这个问题，即寻找商场本身在Courtney看来就是一种麻烦，所以他才会在话中使用了but和also。只是在读者看来，也许换个商场并没有什么麻烦。
64. B
题目问商店主经常会雇用业余兼职的警察来做停车场管理员，以便顾客……
A， 能够停留更长的时间逛商场。
B， 停车不会遇到麻烦。
C， 不会担心任何安全问题。
D， 购物后可以很容易地找到自己的车子。
倒数第五段提到了moonlighting和police——some retailers solved parking problems by getting moonlighting local police to work as parking attendants.这里讲得很清楚，商店主雇用警察的目的是为了解决停车问题（solved parking problems），这样就排除了A和C。但停车问题也可能是取车时出现的问题，如车子停得过乱，无法找到自己的车。这时可以结合下文进行判断。下面一句讲到商场也会雇用摇旗者指挥顾客去往停车空位（to empty parking spaces），此后这一措施能够避免顾客在停车场上四处乱转却找不到停车位，或是顾客争抢停车空位的事情。可以看到本段其余几句全部和停车空位有关，是停车时的问题，那么第一句所讲应该也是来到停车场的停车问题，而不是离开时的问题。所以排除D，选择B。
65. A
题目问哪一项最能化解和顾客的冲突。
A， 销售人员的服务态度。
B， 雇用办事效率高的员工。
C， 巨量的商品供应。
D， 商场的陈列布局。
倒数第四段列举了几种能够减少头疼（relieve the headaches，也就是减少顾客的不满）的方法，分别是redesigning store layouts（对应D）, pre-stocking sales items（对应C）, hiring speedy and experienced cashiers（对应B）, and having sales representatives on hand to answer questions（与A稍有关系）。此后的一段指出最为重要的是销售人员能够圆滑而礼貌地应对愤怒的顾客。这一段的most恰好对应题目要求的most，不过这里没有出现smoothing over issues。这个词组出现在了下一段：Retailers who’re responsive and friendly are more likely to smooth over issues than those who aren’t so friendly；这句话应该是承接上一段的意思，解释有礼貌的销售人员如何能够消解问题。这样的话，mostly important和smooth over issues同时指向了销售人员的态度问题，也就是A。
66. C
题目问为了获得更好的购物体验，消费者们得到了哪些建议。
A， 向商场施加压力，令其改善服务。
B， 以圆滑的方式解决和商场的争端。
C， 直接向商场经理表达不满。
D， 四处购物，并在各个商场间进行对比。
上一题考查了倒数第二段，那么作为最后一题，只能考查最后一段了。在最后一段，作者从顾客的角度分析如何改善购物体验，第一句就提出了建议：filing complaints to the retailer，file作为动词，是“提出”，用在这里指向零售商投诉、抱怨，而retailer指的是商场主或经理。本题选择C。A中出现了pressure一词，可以判断是对hard-pressed一词的理解。Hard-pressed意思为“陷入困境的”，在句中指商场主不清楚哪里出了问题时，很难去改进什么。可见这个词与pressure无关，和hard、difficult意义接近。A和D在文中都没有提到，可以排除。
