In the more and more competitive service industry , it is no longer enough to promise customer satisfaction. Today , customer “delight” is what companies are trying to achieve in  order to keep and increase market share.

It is accepted in the marketing industry , and confirmed by a number of researches, that customers receiving good service will promote business by telling up to 12 other people : those treated badly will tell their tales of woe to up to 20 people, 80 percent of people who feel their complaints are handled fairly will stay loyal

New challenges for customer care have come when people can obtain  goods and services through  telephone call centers and the Internet. For example , many companies now have to invest(投资)a lot of money in information technology and staff training in order to cope with the “phone rage”—caused by delays in answering calls ,being cut off in mid-conversation or left waiting for long periods.

“Many people do not like talking to machines ,”says Dr . Storey Senior Lecturer in Marketing at City University Business School. “Banks, for example, encourage staff at call centers to use customer data to establish instant and good relationship with them .The aim is to make the customer feel they know you and that you can trust— the sort of comfortable feelings people have during face-to-face chats with their local branch manager.”

Recommended ways of creating customer delight include: under-promising and over-delivering  (saying that a repair will be carried out within five hours ,but getting it done within two );replacing a faulty product immediately : throwing in a gift voucher(购物礼卷)as an unexpected “thank you” to regular customers ;and always returning calls ,even when they are complaints.

Aiming for customer delight is all very well , but if services do not reach the high level promised , disappointment or worse will be the result . This can be eased by offering an apology and an explanation of why the service did not meet usual standards with empathy (for example, “I know how you must feel”) , and possible solutions (replacement , compensation or whatever fairness suggests best meets the case).

Airlines face some of the toughest challenges over customer care . Fierce competition has convinced them that delighting passengers is an important marketing tool, while there is great potential for customer anger over delays caused by weather , unclaimed luggage and technical problems .

For British Airways staff , a winning telephone style is considered vital in handling the large volume of calls about bookings and flight times. They are trained to answer quickly , with their name , job title and a “we are here to help” attitude. The company has invested heavily in information technology to make sure that information is available instantly on screen.

British Airways also says its customer care policies are applied within the company and staff  are taught to regard each other as customers requiring the highest standards of service.

Customer care is obviously here to stay and it would be a foolish company that used slogans such as "we do as we please”. On the other hand , the more customers are promised, the greater the risk of  disappointment.

1.We can learn from Paragraph 2 that       .

A．complaining customers are hard to satisfy

B．unsatisfied customers receive better service

C．Satisfied customers catch more attention

D．well-treated customers promote business

2.The writer mentions “phone rage”(Paragraph 3) to show that       .

A．customers often use phones to express their anger

B．people still prefer to buy goods online

C．customer care becomes more demanding.

D．customers rely on their phones to obtain services

3.If a manager should show his empathy (Paragraph6), what would he probably say?

A．“I know how upset you must be.”

B．“I appreciate your understanding.”

C．“I’m sorry for the delay.”

D．“I know it’s our fault.”

4. Customer delight is important for airlines because      .

A．their telephone style remains unchanged

B．they are more likely to meet with complaints

C．the services cost them a lot of money

D．the policies can be applied to their staff

5.Which of the following is conveyed in this article?

A．Face-to-face service creates comfortable feelings among customers.

B．Companies that promise more will naturally attract more customers.

C．A company should promise less but do more in a competitive market.

D．Customer delight is more important for airlines than for banks.

 

 Retail therapy（购物疗法）has long been considered as a good way to let off stress. Now, US scientists have discovered not only does retail therapy exist，but that it could be caused by an individual's fear of sudden death.

    Researchers found materialistic people thought terrorism and war more stressful than others.

    Psychologists believe the rise of materialism around the world and its treatment effect on extreme stress might be a response to fear of death caused by acts of terrorism, disease and natural disasters.

    The scientists from Michigan State University said people with possession obsessions（妄想）often have lower self-esteem than others so are more likely to shop as the result of severe psychological suffering.

    Ayalla Ruvio，a business professor studying people's shopping habits while rockets fell in Israel, said, "When the going gets tough, the materialistic people go shopping. This stress spending is likely to produce even greater stress and lower well-being. Essentially, materialism appears to make bad events even worse.

    Dr Ruvio led a two-part study of Israeli citizens living in a town that came under extreme rocket attacks for about six months in 2007. She compared 139 residents of the southern town with 170 from another town that was not under attack to see how their symptoms of post-traumatic stress and shopping habits varied. Dr Ruvio found that, when faced with a deadly threat, those who are highly materialistic suffered much higher levels of stress，while their tendency to shop was increased.

    Dr Ruvio said, "The relationship between materialism and stress may be more harmful than commonly thought.”

    The second stage of their research surveyed 855 Americans about their materialistic nature and fear of death. They found shopping was used to relieve feelings of stress and anxiety about death but this was in response to fear of a variety of life-threatening events like car accidents, criminal attacks and natural disasters.

1.Which of the following opinion is NOT right according to the text?

A. Terrorism is believed to easily cause the rise of materialism.

B. The materialistic find terrorism and war more stressful than others.

C. The scientists think possession obsessions help people get self-respect.

D. The scientists think people with possession obsessions suffer a lot mentally.

2.Why did Dr Ruvio choose to study the two groups of Israeli citizens mentioned in the passage?

A. They enjoy the special shopping culture.

B. The stresses they face are usually deadly.

C. They are in different situation in terms of war.

D. They are usually active participants for researchers.

3.What's the result about Dr Ruvio's research?

A. Impulsive spending does good to people's health.

B. Shopping can't lower one's stress as it is expected.

C. Faced with great stress, people feel hopeless for life.

D. Faced with threat，people's wish to shop will decrease.

4.Which of the following events threaten people's life?

①Greater stress; ②Car accidents; ③Criminal attacks；. ④Natural disasters;

A.①②③ B.②③④ C.①②④ D.①③④

5.What's the main idea of the passage?

A. Greater stress can lead to shopping.

B. Greater stress can cause a lot of diseases

C. Shopping is very important in people's life.

D. Can shopping reduce the stress and relieve the fear of death?

 

In the more and more competitive service industry, it is no longer enough to promise customer satisfaction. Today, customer “delight” is what companies are trying to achieve in order to keep and increase market share.
It is accepted in the marketing industry, and confirmed by a number of researches, that customers receiving good service will promote business by telling up to 12 other people; those treated badly will tell their tales of woe to up to 20 people. Interestingly, 80 percent of people who feel their complaints are handled fairly will stay loyal.
New challenges for customer care have come when people can obtain goods and services through telephone call centers and the Internet. For example, many companies now have to invest(投资)a lot of money in information technology and staff training in order to cope with the “phone rage”—caused by delays in answering calls, being cut off in mid-conversation or let waiting for long periods.
“Many people do not like talking to machines,” says Dr. Storey, Senior Lecturer in Marketing at City University Business School. “Banks, for example, encourage staff at call centers to use customer data to establish instant and good relationship with them. The aim is to make the customer feel they know you and that you can trust them —the sort of comfortable feelings people have during face-to-face chats with their local branch manager.”
Recommended ways of creating customer delight include: under-promising and over-delivering (saying that a repair will be carried out within five hours, but getting it done within two); replacing a faulty product immediately; throwing in a gift voucher(购物礼券)as an unexpected “thank you” to regular customers; and always returning calls, even when they are complaints.
Aiming for customer delight is all very well, but if services do not reach the high level promised, disappointment or worse will be the result. This can be eased by offering an apology and an explanation of why the service did not meet usual standards with empathy (for example, “I know how you must feel”), and possible solutions (replacement, compensation or whatever fairness suggests best meets the case).
Airlines face some of the toughest challenges over customer care. Fierce competition has convinced them that delighting passengers in an important marketing tool, while there is great potential for customer anger over delays caused by weather, unclaimed luggage and technical problems.
For British Airways staff, a winning telephone style is considered vital in handling the large volume of calls about booking and flight times. They are trained to answer quickly, with their name, job title and a “we are here to help” attitude. The company has invested heavily in information technology to make sure that information is available instantly on screen.
British Airways also says its customer care policies are applied within the company and staff are taught to regard each other as customers requiring the highest standards of service.
Customer care is obviously here to stay and it would be a foolish company that used slogans such as “we do as we please.” On the other hand, the more customers are promised, the greater the risk of disappointment.
【小题1】We can learn from Paragraph 2 that__________.

A．complaining customers are hard to satisfy

B．unsatisfied customers receive better service

C．satisfied customers catch more attention

D．well-treated customers promote business

【小题2】The writer mentions “phone rage” (Paragraph 3)to show that__________.

A．customers often use phones to express their anger

B．people still prefer to buy goods online

C．customer care becomes more demanding

D．customers rely on their phones to obtain services

【小题3】What does the writer recommend to create customer delight?

A．Calling customers regularly

B．Giving a “thank you” note

C．Delivering a quicker service

D．Promising more gifts

【小题4】If a manager should show his empathy (Paragraph 6), what would he probably say?

A．“I know how upset you must be.”

B．“I appreciate your understanding.”

C．“I’m sorry for the delay.”

D．“I know it’s our fault.”

【小题5】Customer delight is important for airlines because__________.

A．their telephone style remains unchanged

B．they are more likely to meet with complaints

C．the services cost them a lot of money

D．the policies can be applied to their staff

【小题6】Which of the following is conveyed in this article?

A．Face-to-face service creates comfortable feelings among customers

B．Companies that promise more will naturally attract more customers

C．A company should promise less but do more in a competitive market

D．Customer delight is more important for airlines than for banks

Everyone knows that exercise is important. We all need to exercise. Doctors say it is good for us. It makes your heart and body strong. Children who often exercise are more alert (灵活). This means they do better in tests and schoolwork than those who don’t exercise.

There are many ways to exercise. You can walk, run, swim, skate, or play ball games. Make sure you exercise in the following ways; you have to like what you’re doing. Exercise enough— but not too much. It’s best to exercise twice each week, Thirty minutes each time is enough. Try all kinds of things until you find one, two or even three sports that feel right for you.

You can exercise at fitness centers. They have a lot of equipment（设备）there. The equipment will help to exercise your arms, legs and other parts of your body to make you fit. Some people buy equipment for their homes. But it is very expensive.

Exercising can be fun. Friends can exercise together at a fitness center or they can play sports together. How do you exercise?

1.In the text, the writer tells us that we all need to         .

A．drink

B．sleep

C．exercise

D．work

2.Which of the following sports is not mentioned (提到) in the next?

A．Fishing

B．Running

C．Swimming

D．Walking

3.The words “fitness centers” in the next mean         .

A．商务中心

B．健身中心

C．购物中心

D．医疗中心

4.The sentence, Children who often exercise are more alert, tells us that people who often exercise can do better in         .

A．running

B．skate

C．swim

D．studies

5.Exercising can be fun, because         .

A．it makes your heart and body strong

B．it makes you study better

C．people can buy equipment for their home

D．friends can play sports together

 

As a substitute teacher, my daily routine involves driving to a new school almost every day so I’m usually unable to anticipate the day’s events, good or bad!

On one particular day, I was teaching in a very difficult classroom. I was managing behavior all morning and by lunch time, I knew I needed coffee to even consider surviving the afternoon. So on my lunch break, I drove to a nearby plaza（购物中心）to get a cup of coffee. Upon returning to the car I realized I had locked my keys and my phone inside! I had about 15 minutes to get back to the school which was a good 4 or 5-minute drive away. I contemplated  (思考）sprinting（冲刺）back, but it being winter, I thought a nasty fall on ice would only make the situation much worse.

So I ran into a McDonald’s which was in the same plaza and asked the man at the counter who happened to be the manager to please call me a cab. I briefly explained my situation to him, and I could tell by the look in his eyes, that he empathized. He hurried to the back to use the phone while I paced in the restaurant. I had less than 10 minutes to get back to my school at this point.

The manager returned only to tell me that the cab company had put him on hold and then the line got disconnected, and that he was now on hold again, but had not yet been able to request the cab yet. My expression, I assume, began to resemble some combination of hopelessness and fear.

Without a thought, he grabbed his coat and offered to drive me to the school. Without hesitation, I followed him into his car and made it back into my classroom with 2 minutes to spare before the bell!

Upon arriving at the school, I thanked this man endlessly. His calm demeanor（举止）and kind nature made me think he was probably a wonderful manager to work for, and also a wonderful human being to have on this earth. This experience makes me realize that out of every seemingly hopeless situation, there is the opportunity for acts of kindness to transpire（发生）, which can have an unimaginable impact on those who receive them.

1.Why did the author go to get a coffee?

A．Because he needed to eat something as lunch.

B．Because he was very thirsty.

C．Because he had to refresh himself for the classes in the afternoon.

D．Because he wanted something hot to drink.

2.What happened to the author after he got a cup of coffee?

A．He fell on the icy road.

B．He realized his keys and phone were locked inside the car.

C．His car was broken.

D．He lost his keys and phone.

3.How long probably had the author stayed in the McDonald’s?

A．For about 15 minutes.                    B．For about 10 minutes.

C．For about 8 to 9 minutes.                 D．For only 2 minutes.

4.What kind of person is the manager?

A．Kind-hearted.      B．Active.            C．Good-mannered.    D．Thoughtful.