《阅读强化练习》word版.doc

阅读强化练习十Part Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning) (15 minutes)What Customer Service?The email from the airline arrived at 3: 23 a.m. and advised that “a cancellation has affected the following flights,” and then specified my Chicago OHare-to-LaGuardia flight, scheduled to depart a little less than five hours later. Irritation aside, my reaction was largely bafflementhow exactly had a cancellation “affected” my flight? And how dare a cancellation do that, anyway? Didnt it realize I had to get back to Manhattan for worknot to mention a battery of New Years Eve parties?The notification from United Airlines was a fantastic thing in the tradition of the “mistakes were made” rhetorical excuse. In this era of chaos, passive aggression, and euphemistic (委婉的) responsibility-avoiding， it is no big surprise that an airline would seek to distance itself from the transportation mass caused by the Christmas-weekend storm that dumped up to two feet of snow on New York and other East Coast communities, led to the cancellation of thousands of flights and trapped throngs of passengers all over the nation. But it says a good deal about why many customers have been pale and grey over this storm and have vented their anger in the direction of the airlines customer-service device.Airline passengers are accustomed to cutting the carriers some slack during weather emergencies. Thunderstorms, hurricanes (飓风), tornadoes (龙卷风), and yes, blizzards (暴风雪), are seen as “acts of God” that no one can control. And even now, customers understand that theres not much anyone could have done about the storm itself. What has drawn their anger is the airlines reaction after the blizzard. For many, the problem was an inability to get clear answers from the carriersor more precisely, to get to a live person representing the carriers. “For people, the point is, lets just have some clarity; let me know where I stand,” says Michael Boyd, president of Boyd Group International, an aviation consulting firm. “The airlines want to say this happened, and we have nothing to do with it. Its like, a tornado came by and a cancellation came by right after.”The blizzard threw into disarray the travel plans of more than 1 million customers and led to cancellation of more than 8,000 flights. Passengers who phoned the airlines were kept on hold for lengthy periods, in some cases more than two hours. Many were told to call back later. Others were directed to web sites, where no useful information was availablecallers mostly needed to know what their options were given that their flights had been canceled, and wanted to rebook on the next available flight. For that, they mostly needed to speak to an agent.But at many airlines, such agents are in short supply. Air carriers have been moving firmly toward automation. Indeed, in normal times people are punished, through fees and charges, for booking flights with agents on the phone or at a ticket counter. “Airlines have become more automated,” says Boyd. “There are no ticket counters because there are no tickets. That has to be understood.” He noted that Continental Airlines has gotten rid of 600 call-center jobs in the past year, almost a quarter of its reservations personnel. It is estimated that American Airlines cut 500 jobs when it closed a call center in New England, and that United Airlines has gradually shrunk its systemwide customer-service and reservations staff to about 10,000 from some 15,000, since the early 2000s. United spokesman Rahsaan Johnson says the carriers reservations staff has been “flat” for the last two years. Some analysts, however, predict more cuts when the integration of United and Continental, which merged this year, is completed in 2011. The airlines insist that customer service will not be a victim of automation. Johnson acknowledges that United is “trying to get to a point where we can do things electronically.” He said people are not yet used to electronic flying the way they are accustomed to electronic banking, but that the airline is offering them more “online tools.” Regardless, he said, “There are always going to be agents available for a customer who needs person-to-person aid.” He added that United is now “for the most part” flying a normal schedule, has been using wide-body aircraft on some flights to accommodate more passengers, and adding some routes that are not normally on its schedule, such as OHare to JFK airport.But such moves are scant comfort for many displaced and trapped passengers trying to get somewhere for New Yearsor heading back to their lives. Calling a carriers customer-service number right now often is an exercise in irritationif not effortlessness. It appears that the airlines put up an array of obstacles to prevent a caller from reaching an actual human. Boyd, the aviation consultant, says the relationship between airline and customer remains too adversarial. “Even in these conditions, theres that feeling on the other side of the counter that Im not going to let you get away with anything,” he tells NEWSWEEK. “It really is obstructionism. The airlines put too many people in that situation, and then its a gotcha game. The airlines dont train their people to handle situations like this.”The U.S. Department of Transportation is said to be looking into the post-blizzard staggers in New York City and elsewhere. The worst appears to be over, and more people are boarding more flights. But there still are passengers stranded from New York to Fresno. Some of us will do New Years Eve wherever the night finds us. And even those who manage to get on a plane cant necessarily breathe easy. Theres no telling when a delay might suddenly rush in and “affect” their flights.1. What would the airline do when facing the transportation mass caused by storm?2. After blizzards, what really irritates customers? 3. What does Michael Boyd, president of Boyd Group International, say about peoples need? 4. Knowing the flights had been cancelled, what did passengers who phoned the airlines mostly need to know? 5. Why are many airlines lacking agents? 6. When the integration of United and Continental is finished, . 7. According to United spokesman Rahsaan Johnson, how does the airline get people to be used to electronic flying? 8. For a customer, if calling a carriers customer-service number right now is not effortless, it is often .9. Boyd thinks airline and customer are still in a relationship.10. It is said that in New York City and elsewhere, the U.S. Department of Transportation is investigating .Part Reading Comprehension (Reading in Depth) (25 minutes)Section A Questions 47 to 56 are based on the following passage.Most of us trade money for entertainment. Movies, concerts and shows are enjoyable but 47 . If you think that you cant have a good time without spending a lot of money, read on. A little resourcefulness and a few minutes of newspaper-scanning should give you some pleasant surprise.People may be the most interesting show in a large city. 48 through busy streets and see what everybody else is doing. You will probably see people from all over the world; you will 49 see people of every age, size, and shape, and youll get a free fashion show, too. Window-shopping is also a 50 sport if the stores are closed.Check the listings in your neighborhood paper. Local colleges or schools often 51 the public to hear an interesting speech or a good 52 . The film or concert series at the local public library probably wont cost you a penny. Be sure to check commercial advertisements too. A flea market can provide hours of pleasant looking round. Perhaps you can find a free cooking or crafts 53 in a department store.Plan ahead for some activities. It is always more pleasant not to have people in front of you in a museum or at a zoo. You may save some money, too, since these places often 54 aside one or two free 55 days at slow times during the week. Make sure that you are including the indispensable 56 that people travel miles to see. If you feel like taking an interesting walk, find a free walking tour, preplan one yourself.A)addition B)admissionC)certainlyD)confidentlyE)debateF)demonstrationG)disputeH)expensiveI)safeJ)setK)sightsL)valuableM)wanderN)welcomeO)wanderSection BPassage OneQuestions 57 to 61 are based on the following passage.The Knowledge Is Power Program, the most successful charter school (特许学校)network, has a new official name, KIPP, and a new approach to raising achievement for disadvantaged children. In its first decade the network focused on creating middle schools that started with fifth graders two or three years below grade level and got them up to speed by eighth grade. Now it is opening elementary schools so it can start raising achievement in pre-kindergarten and kindergarten.The thought is that by fifth grade there will be no need for hero teachers who work ten hours a day, plus summers and some Saturdays, to save kids who have fallen so far behind. There will be less stress on staff and more hope for kids.It makes sense. But I see a problem. What happens to the many fifth graders who are still far behind but find the doors to KIPP, or any of the other successful charters, are closed because they filled those classes back in pre-K and kindergarten?The most effective regular and charter public schools have been experimenting with every promising way to rescue kids who have reached middle or high school still unable to read and write well enough to study independently. If they no longer need to deal with struggling older children, we have lost a great resource for figuring out how to help them.KIPP co-founders Mike Feinberg and Dave Levin said they share my concern about their new approach freezing out middle schoolers who need them and promise to admit older students if their families continue to enroll them.Susan Schaeffler, a leader of KIPP, said she took in kids at every grade level this year, and looked for ways to raise them to KIPP standards. KIPP is too small to ever be the savior of inner city schools, but it can help the regular schools that must play that role see how they might do it.57. In the first ten years, KIPP network schools admitted . 58. By opening elementary schools, KIPP mainly aims at . 59. According to the author, what is the problem with opening elementary charter schools instead of middle schools? 60. KIPP co-founders Mike Feinberg and Dave Levin promise to . 61. What can we infer from the last paragraph? Passage TwoQuestions 62 to 66 are based on the following passage.Dont let anyone tell you that its absolutely impossible nowadays to get a job without special qualifications: I can tell you that its not.Six months ago, I was happily employed full time as private secretary to the Managing Director of quite a large and very successful firm of accounts in our nearest town. When financial trouble hit the firm, I was hit hard and fast, and most of the employees knew nothing about it until we were given a weeks notice to leave. When youve been earning an extremely good salary, as I had, a thing like that comes hard. You suddenly realize that youve taken everything a little too much for granted and in my own case that meant that I had spent far too much money on clothes and thought far too little about saving.However, once I had got over the initial shock of the firm going out of business and of my losing my livelihood with it, I felt quite confident that I would have little difficulty in quickly finding a similar position with another company due to my former experience. It wasnt until I had b