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.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 |
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 |
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.” |
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 |
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. |
LONDON, England (CNN) —The youngest person to sail solo around the world returned home Thursday from his 30,000-mile, 282-dav ocean journey.
Mike Perham, 17 , sailed into Lizard Point in Cornwall, the southernmost point in Britain, at 9:47 a. m.,his race team said.
" It feels absolutely brilliant," Mike told CNN by phone hours before crossing the finish line. "I'm really, really excited to be going across the line at last. It doesn't feel like long since I crossed it first."
Mike set off on his round-the-world trip on November 18, 2008. He has been sailing his yacht single-handedly, though a support team has been sailing next to him along the way.
The teen has now achieved the title of Youngest Sailor to Circumnavigate the Globe Solo, according to the Guinness World Records.
Mike learned how to sail when he was seven years old from his father, Peter and at age 14,he sailed across the Atlantic alone.
The teenager's school—which Mike describes as "highly supportive" of his trip—has redesigned his coursework to fit in with his trip. It also gave him some coursework to do during "quiet moments," according to Mike's Web site.
There haven't been many of those quiet moments. Repeated autopilot failures forced him to stop for repairs in Portugal, the Canary Islands,South Africa,and twice in Australia,according to his Web site.
Bad weather in the Southern Ocean—between Australia and Antarctica—forced Mike to battle 50ft waves and 57 mph winds. He said at one point,a "freak wave" picked up the boat and turned it on its side.
"My feet were on the ceiling at the time," he told CNN. "That was a really hairy moment, and I was certainly thinking, 'Why am I here? ’ But we took the sails off and the day after I thought/This is brilliant!’"
Mike describes his father as his biggest hero,always supportive of what he wanted to achieve. Peter Perham said he wasn't too worried about his son facing dangerous situations at sea, as long as he knew what to do and stayed safe. Mike Perham returned to Britain in ______ .
| A.August | B.September |
| C.October | D.November |
Mike Perham is ______ that went on the round-the-world trip in the world up till now.
| A.the first | B.the bravest |
| C.the luckiest | D.the youngest. |
We can infer from the passage that ______ .
| A.the English school is the same as ours |
| B.the English school doesn't care for students |
| C.the English school has a humane management |
| D.the English school gives students a lot of course work |
The passage mainly tells us ______ .
| A.Mike's exciting sail trip around the globe |
| B.how Mike's father taught him to sail a boat |
| C.why CNN wanted to report the news to the public |
| D.the introduction of the Guinness World Records |
Polar bears depend on ice to hunt (猎取)for food in the Arctic Ocean. They climb up on the ice to look for seals and other animals. But scientists say sea ice is decreasing (减少)because of climate change. They say rising temperatures have reduced the area in which polar bears can hunt.
Recently, a number of studies found that future reductions of sea ice could result in a loss of many polar bears within fifty years. The studies found a direct link between sea ice in the Arctic Ocean and the health of polar bears. The scientists say the animals will disappear from the north coasts of Alaska and Russia in the next fifty years. The only polar bears to survive will be in Canada's far north and the west coast of Greenland.
The scientists found that almost two thirds of the world's nineteen polar bear populations will disappear from the earth by the middle of this century. The studies showed that three more groups of polar bears will disappear within seventy-five years.
Scientists say polar bears still can be saved. But they say the world must begin taking steps to reduce climate change to do this. The center for Biological Diversity says governments around the world need to reduce the release (释放)of pollution like C02 gas.
Scientists say one step toward this goal would be to include polar bears on America's list of endangered species. Then the government would be able to make sure that industrial activities do not threaten their survival. The United States Fish and Wildlife Service is expected to examine the new findings when it considers whether polar bears should be included on the Endangered Species List. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
| A.The living conditions of the polar bears are improving. |
| B.Almost two thirds of polar bears will disappear within seventy-five years. |
| C.The health of polar bears is directly connected with the sea ice. |
| D.The polar bears mainly feed on sea ice. |
According to the passage, the number of the polar bears is directly decided by ______.
| A.the climate change | B.the amount of sea ice |
| C.C02 gas | D.industrial activities |
Whether polar bears should be included on America's Endangered Species List or not is decided by ______.
| A.the United States Fish and Wildlife Service |
| B.the Center for Biological Diversity |
| C.the polar bears themselves |
| D.American government |
This passage mainly tells us ______ .
| A.the relationship between climate change and sea ice in the Arctic Ocean. |
| B.the influence of the weather change on the polar bears in the Arctic Ocean. |
| C.one step to save the endangered polar bears. |
| D.the fact that the number of the polar bears is decreasing. |

With only about 1,000 pandas left in the world, China is desperately trying to clone the animal and save the endangered species. That’s more similar to what a Texas A & M University researchers have been undertaking for the past five years in a project called Noah’s Ark.
Noah’s Ark is aimed at collecting eggs, embryos (胚胎) and DNA of endangered animals and storing them in liquid nitrogen. If certain species should become extinct, Dr Duane Kraemer, a professor in Texas A & M'S College of Veterinary Medicine, says there would be enough of the basic building blocks to reintroduce the species in the future.
It is estimated that as many as 2,000 species of mammals, birds and reptiles will become extinct in over 100 years. The panda, native only to China, is in danger of becoming extinct in the next 25 years.
This week, Chinese scientists said they grew an embryo by introducing cells from a dead female panda into the egg cells of a Japanese white rabbit. They are now trying to implant the embryo into a host animal.
The entire procedure could take from three to five years to complete.
“The nuclear transfer (核子移植) of one species to another is not easy, and the lack of available (capable of being used) panda eggs could be a major problem,” Kraemer believes. “They will probably have to do several hundred transfers to result in one pregnancy (having a baby). It takes a long time and it's difficult, but this could be groundbreaking science if it works. They are certainly not putting any live pandas at risk, so it is worth the effort.” adds Kraemer, who is one of the leaders of the Project at Texas A & M, the first-ever attempt at cloning a dog.
“They are trying to do something that’s never been done, and this is very similar to our work in Noah’s Ark. We’re both trying to save animals that face extinction. I certainly appreciate their effort and there’s a lot we can learn from what they are attempting to do. It's a research that is very much needed.”The aim of Noah's Ark project is to ____ .
| A.make efforts to clone the endangered pandas |
| B.save endangered animals from dying out |
| C.collect DNA of endangered animals to study |
| D.transfer the nuclear of one animal to another |
How long will the Chinese panda cloning project take according to the passage?
| A.1 Year. | B.3 to 5 years. | C.2 years. | D.25 years. |
According to Professor Kraemer, the major problem in cloning pandas would be the lack of ____.
| A.available panda eggs | B.host animals |
| C.qualified researchers | D.enough money |
From the passage we know that ____ .
| A.Kraemer and his team have succeeded in cloning a dog |
| B.scientists try to implant a panda's egg into a rabbit |
| C.Kraemer will work with Chinese scientists in clone researches |
| D.about two thousand species will probably die out in a century |
The best title for the passage may be ____.
| A.China's Success in Pandas Cloning |
| B.The First Cloned Panda in the World |
| C.Exploring the Possibility to Clone Pandas |
| D.China --- the Native Place of Pandas Forever |
Two American scientists told the people in industrial nations that they would be much healthier if they ate more of the same kind of food eaten by humans living more than 10,000 years ago.
The scientists say that the human body has changed very little since human first appeared on earth, but the way we live has changed greatly. Our body has not been able to deal with these changes in life style and this has led to new kinds of sicknesses. These new sicknesses were not known in ancient times. So they are called “diseases of civilization”. Many cancers and diseases of the blood system, including heart attacks and strokes ( 中风 ) are examples of such diseases.
Scientists noted that early stone-age people used very little alcohol ( 酒精 ) or tobacco, probably none. Ancient people also got a great deal of physical exercise, but a change in food is one of the main differences between life in ancient times and life today.
Stone Age people hunted wild animals for their meat, which had much less fat than farm animals. They also ate a lot of fresh wild vegetables, and fruits. They did not use milk and other dairy products, and they made a very little use of grains. But today, we eat a large amount of dairy products and grain foods. We eat six times more salt than stone-age people. We eat more sugar. We eat twice as much fat but only one third as much protein and much less Vitamin C.
People today probably do not want to live as people thousands of years ago did, but scientists say that we would be much healthier if we ate as those ancient people did, cutting the amount of fatty, salty and sweet foods.The people in industrial nations would be much healthier if they ate _____.
| A.more food as humans living 10,000 years ago did |
| B.as humans living 10,000 years ago |
| C.more kinds of food eaten by people living 10,000 years ago |
| D.more of the same kind of food eaten by people over 10,000 years ago |
New kinds of sicknesses have been found because _____.
| A.the human body has changed compared with human first appearing on earth |
| B.the way we live has changed a little |
| C.our body can’t deal with the changes in life style |
| D.the way we live today is proper for the human body |
What is the main cause mentioned in the article why people suffer from a lot of new sicknesses?
| A.Ancient people did a great deal of physical exercise. |
| B.People today have a lot of alcohol. |
| C.People today have more tobacco. |
| D.Food is quite different between life today and life in ancient times. |
Stone-age people were much healthier than people today because they ate a lot of _____.
| A.milk and other dairy products |
| B.grain foods and farm animals |
| C.salt and sugar |
| D.wild animals, fresh wild vegetables and fruits |
From this article, we know that the following choices are good to our health except _____.
| A.protein and Vitamin C |
| B.milk and grain foods |
| C.wild animals, vegetables and fruits |
| D.a huge amount of fatty, salty and sweet foods |
Driving to a friend’s house on a recent evening, I was attracted by the sight of the full moon rising just above my friend’s rooftops. I stopped to watch it for a few moments, thinking about what a pity it was that most city people, I myself included, usually miss sights like this because we spend most of our lives indoors.
My friend had also seen it. He grew up living in a forest in Europe, and the moon meant a lot to him then. It had touched much of his life.
I know the feeling. Last December I took my seven-year-old daughter to the mountain jungle of northern India with some friends. We stayed in a forest rest-house with no electricity or running hot water. Our group had campfires outside every night, and indoors when it was too cold outside. The moon grew to its fullest during our trip. Between me and the high mountains lay three or four valleys. Not a light shone in them and not a sound could be heard. It was one of the quietest places I have ever known, a bottomless well silence. And above me was the full moon, which struck me deeply.
Today our lives are filled with glass, metal, plastic and fibreglass. We have televisions, cell phones, papers, electricity, heaters and ovens and air-conditioners, cars, computers.
Struggling through traffic that evening at the end of a tiring day, most of it spent indoors, I thought: before long, I would like to live in a small cottage. There I will grow vegetables and read books and walk in the mountains and perhaps write, but not in anger. I may become an old man there, and measure out my life in coffee spoons. But I will be able to walk outside on a cold silent night and touch the moon.The best title for the passage would be __________.
| A.Touched by the moon |
| B.The pleasures of modern life |
| C.A bottomless well of silence |
| D.Break away from modern life |
The writer felt sorry for himself because ___________.
| A.there was too much pollution |
| B.he usually failed to see the fullest moon |
| C.he didn’t get used to modern inventions |
| D.there were many accidents on the road |
What impressed the writer most in the mountain jungle of northern India?
| A.No modern equipment. |
| B.Complete silence. |
| C.The nice moonlight. |
| D.The high mountains. |
Modern things (Paragraph 4) are mentioned mainly to ________.
| A.show that the writer likes city life very much |
| B.tell us that people greatly benefit from modern life |
| C.explain that people have less chances to enjoy nature |
| D.show that we can also enjoy nature at home through them |
The author wrote the passage to __________.
| A.express the feeling of returning to nature |
| B.show the love for the moonlight |
| C.advise modern people to learn to live |
| D.want to communicate the longing for modern life |