A) Critical.
B) Prejudiced.
C) Indifferent.
D) Positive.
22. With the increased use of high-tech communications equipment, businesspeople
________.
A) have to get familiar with modern technology
B) are gaining more economic benefits from domestic operations
C) are attaching more importance to their overseas business
D) are eager to work overseas
23. In this passage, “out of sight and out of mind” (Lines 2-3, Para. 3) probably means
________.
A) being unable to think properly for lack of insight
B) being totally out of touch with business at home
C) missing opportunities for promotion when abroad
D) leaving all care and worry behind
24. According to the passage, what is an important consideration of international
corporations in employing people today?
A) Connections with businesses overseas.
B) Ability to speak the client’s language.
C) Technical know-how.
D) Business experience.
25. The advantage of employees having foreign language skills is that they can
________.
A) better control the whole negotiation process
B) easily find new approaches to meet market needs
C) fast-forward their proposals to headquarters
D) easily make friends with businesspeople abroad
Passage Four
Questions 26 to 30 are based on the following passage.
In recent years, Israeli consumers have grown more demanding as they’ve become
wealthier and more worldly-wise. Foreign travel is a national passion; this summer alone,
one in 10 citizens will go abroad. Exposed to higher standards of service elsewhere,
Israelis are returning home expecting the same. American firms have also begun arriving
in large numbers. Chains such as KFC, McDonald’s and Pizza Hut are setting a new
standard of customer service, using strict employee training and constant monitoring to
ensure the friendliness of frontline staff. Even the American habit of telling departing
customers to “Have a nice day” has caught on all over Israel. “Nobody wakes up in the
morning and says, ‘Let’s be nicer,’” says Itsik Cohen, director of a consulting firm.
“Nothing happens without competition.”
Privatization, or the threat of it, is a motivation as well. Monopolies (垄断者) that
until recently have been free to take their customers for granted now fear what Michael
Perry, a marketing professor, calls “the revengeful (报复的) consumer.” When the
government opened up competition with Bezaq, the phone company, its international
branch lost 40% of its market share, even while offering competitive rates. Says Perry,
“People wanted revenge for all the years of bad service.” The electric company, whose
monopoly may be short-lived, has suddenly mopped requiring users to wait half a day for
a repairman. Now, appointments are scheduled to the half-hour. The graceless El Al
Airlines, which is already at auction (拍卖), has retrained its employees to emphasize
service and is boasting about the results in an ad campaign with the slogan, “You can feel
the change in the air.” For the first time, praise outnumbers complaints on customer
survey sheets.
26. It may be inferred from the passage that ________.
A) customer service in Israel is now improving
B) wealthy Israeli customers are hard to please
C) the tourist industry has brought chain stores to Israel
D) Israeli customers prefer foreign products to domestic ones
27. In the author’s view, higher service standards are impossible in Israel ________.
A) if customer complaints go unnoticed by the management
B) unless foreign companies are introduced in greater numbers
C) if there’s no competition among companies
D) without strict routine training of employees
28. If someone in Israel today needs a repairman in case of a power failure, ________.
A) they can have it fixed in no time
B) it’s no longer necessary to make an appointment
C) the appointment takes only half a day to make
D) they only have to wait half an hour at most
29. The example of El A1 Airlines shows that ________.
A) revengeful customers are a threat to the monopoly of enterprises
B) an ad campaign is a way out for enterprises in financial difficulty
C) a good slogan has great potential for improving service
D) staff retraining is essential for better service
30. Why did Bezaq’s international branch lose 40% of its market share?