Question

High-quality customer service is preached（宣揚）by many, but actually keeping customers happy is easier said than done.

Shoppers seldom complain to the manager or owner of a retail store（零售店）, but instead will warn their friends, relatives, co-workers, strangers and anyone who will listen. Store managers are often the last to hear complaints. “Storytelling hurts retailers(零售商) and entertains consumers,” said Paula Courtney, President of the Verde group. “The store loses the customer, but the shopper must also find a replacement.”

The most common complaints include filled parking lots, cluttered（塞滿了的）shelves, overloaded racks, out-of-stock items, long check-out lines, and rude sales people.

During peak shopping hours, some retailers solved the parking problems by getting moonlighting(業余兼職的) local police to work as parking attendants to direct customers to empty parking spaces. Retailers can relieve the headaches by redesigning store display, pre-stocking sales items, hiring speedy and experienced cashiers, and having sales representatives on hand to answer questions. Most importantly, sales people should be skillful and polite with angry customers.

“Retailers who’re enthusiastic and friendly are more likely to smooth over issues than those who aren't so friendly.” said Professor Stephen Hoch. “Maybe something as a greeter at the store entrance would help.”

Customers can also improve future shopping experiences by filling 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.

1.Why are store managers often the last to hear complaints?

A. Most shoppers won’t complain even if they have had unhappy experiences.

B. It is difficult for customers to have easy access to store mangers.

C. Few customers believe the service will be improved after their complaints.

D. Shoppers would rather tell their unhappy experiences to people around them.

2.What does Paula Courtney imply by saying the underlined sentence in paragraph 2?

A. The same products can be bought in other retail stores.

B. It is not likely the shopper can find the same products in other stores.

C. New customers are sure to replace old ones.

D. Not complaining to the manager causes the shopper some trouble too.

3.What contributes most to smoothing over issues with customers?

A. Hiring of efficient employees.

B. Manners of the salespeople.

C. Huge supply of goods for sale.

D. Design of the store display.

4.To achieve better shopping experiences, customers are advised to ______.

A. voice their dissatisfaction to store managers directly

B. settle their disagreements with stores in a friendly way

C. put pressure on stores to improve their service

D. shop around and make comparisons between stores

 

Answer 1

【答案】

 

1.D

2.A

3.B

4.A

【解析】

試題分析：這篇材料講的是超市改善服務的問題，按內容可分為改善原因、改善內容和改善方法三個部分。

1.細節題：第二段講到了Shoppers seldom complain to the manager or owner of a retail store（零售店）, but instead will warn their friends, relatives, co-workers, strangers and anyone who will listen. Store managers are often the last to hear complaints.，大意是顧客很少會向經理們抱怨，而是會提醒(alert)他們的朋友、親戚、同事等。這里的alert也就是向人抱怨、勸其不要去該商場的意思。所以顧客們實際上經常抱怨，只是抱怨對象不是經理，而是身邊的人，選D

2.句意理解題：從前面的句子：“Storytelling hurts retailers(零售商) and entertains consumers,”可知這些抱怨讓零售商頭疼但是顧客很高興，因為他們在其他的商店可以買到同樣的商品。選A

3.細節題：第四段列舉了幾種能夠減少頭疼(relieve the headaches，也就是減少顧客的不滿)的方法，分別是redesigning store layouts(對應D), pre-stocking sales items(對應C), hiring speedy and experienced cashiers(對應B), and having sales representatives on hand to answer questions(與A稍有關系)。此后的一段指出最為重要的是銷售人員能夠圓滑而禮貌地應對憤怒的顧客。選B

4.推理題：在最后一段，作者從顧客的角度分析如何改善購物體驗，第一句就提出了建議：filing complaints to the retailer，file作為動詞，是“提出”，用在這里指向零售商投訴、抱怨，而retailer指的是商場主或經理。A

考點：考查社會現象類短文