1、2008年招商银行校园招聘英语阅读原题及答案The fact that superior service can generate a competitive advantage for a company does not mean that every attempt at improving service will create such an advantage. Investments in service， like those in production and distribution， must be balanced against other types of inve
2、stments on the basis of direct， tangible benefits such as cost reduction and increased revenues. If a company is already effectively on a par with its competitors because it provides service that avoids a damaging reputation and keeps customers from leaving at an unacceptable rate， then investment i
3、n higher service levels may be wasted， since service is a deciding factor for customers only in extreme situations.This truth was not apparent to managers of one regional bank， which failed to improve its competitive position despite its investment in reducing the time a customer had to wait for a t
4、eller. The bank managers did not recognize the level of customer inertia in the consumer banking industry that arises from the inconvenience of switching banks. Nor did they analyze their service improvement to determine whether it would attract new customers by producing a new standard of service t
5、hat would excite customers or by proving difficult for competitors to copy. The only merit of the improvement was that it could easily be described to customers.1. The primary purpose of the passage is to(A) contrast possible outcomes of a type of business investment(B) suggest more careful evaluati
6、on of a type of business investment(C) illustrate various ways in which a type of business investment could fail to enhance revenues(D) trace the general problems of a company to a certain type of business investment(E) criticize the way in which managers tend to analyze the costs and benefits of bu
7、siness investments2. According to the passage, investments in service are comparable to investments in production and distribution in terms of the(A) tangibility of the benefits that they tend to confer(B) increased revenues that they ultimately produce(C) basis on which they need to be weighed(D) i
8、nsufficient analysis that managers devote to them(E) degree of competitive advantage that they are likely to provide3. The passage suggests which of the following about service provided by the regional bank prior to its investment in enhancing that service?(A) It enabled the bank to retain customers
9、 at an acceptable rate(B) It threatened to weaken the banks competitive position with respect to other regional banks(C) It had already been improved after having caused damage to the banks reputation in the past.(D) It was slightly superior to that of the banks regional competitors.(E) It needed to
10、 be improved to attain parity with the service provided by competing banks.4. The passage suggests that bank managers failed to consider whether or not the service improvement mentioned in line 19 (A) was too complicated to be easily described to prospective customers(B) made a measurable change in
11、the experiences of customers in the banks offices(C) could be sustained if the number of customers increased significantly(D) was an innovation that competing banks could have imitated(E) was adequate to bring the banks general level of service to a level that was comparable with that of its competi
12、tors5. The discussion of the regional bank (line 13-24) serves which of the following functions within the passage as a whole?(A) It describes an exceptional case in which investment in service actually failed to produce a competitive advantage.(B) It illustrates the pitfalls of choosing to invest i
13、n service at a time when investment is needed more urgently in another area.(C) It demonstrates the kind of analysis that managers apply when they choose one kind of service investment over another(D) It supports the argument that investments in certain aspects of service are more advantageous than
14、investments in other aspects of service.(E) It provides an example of the point about investment in service made in the first paragraph.6. The author uses the word only in line 23 most likely in order to(A) highlight the oddity of the service improvement(B) emphasize the relatively low value of the
15、investment in service improvement(C) distinguish the primary attribute of the service improvement from secondary attributes(D) single out a certain merit of the service improvement from other merits(E) point out the limited duration of the actual service improvementHow many really suffer as a result
16、 of labor market problems? This is one of the most critical yet contentious social policy questions. In many ways, our social statistics exaggerate the degree of hard ship. Unemployment does not have the same dire consequences today as it did in the 1930s when most of the unemployed were primary bre
17、adwinners, when income and earnings were usually much closer to the margin of subsistence, and when there were no countervailing social programs for those failing in the labor market. Increasing affluence, the rise of families with more than one wage earner, the growing predominance of secondary ear
18、ners among the unemployed, and improved social welfare protection have unquestionably mitigated the consequences of joblessness. Earnings and income data also overstate the dimensions of hardship. Among the millions with hourly earnings at or below the minimum wage level, the overwhelming majority a
19、re from multiple-earner, relatively affluent families. Most of those counted by the poverty statistics are elderly or handicapped or have family responsibilities which keep them out of the labor force, so the poverty statistics are by no means an accurate indicator of labor market pathologies. Yet t
20、here are also many ways our social statistics underestimate the degree of labor-market-related hardship. The unemployment counts exclude the millions of fully employed workers whose wages are so low that their families remain in poverty. Low wages and repeated or prolonged unemployment frequently in
21、teract to undermine the capacity for self-support. Since the number experiencing joblessness at some time during the year is several times the number unemployed in any month, those who suffer as a result of forced idleness can equal or exceed average annual unemployment, even though only a minority
22、of the jobless in any month really suffer. For every person counted in the monthly unemployment tallies, there is another working part-time because of the inability to find full-time work, or else outside the labor force but wanting a job. Finally, income transfers in our country have always focused
23、 on the elderly, disabled, and dependent, neglecting the needs of the working poor, so that the dramatic expansion of cash and in-kind transfers does not necessarily mean that those failing in the labor market are adequately protected. As a result of such contradictory evidence, it is uncertain whet
24、her those suffering seriously as a result of thousands or the tens of millions, and, hence, whether high levels of joblessness can be tolerated or must be countered by job creation and economic stimulus. There is only one area of agreement in this debate-that the existing poverty, employment, and ea
25、rnings statistics are inadequate for one their primary applications, measuring the consequences of labor market problems.1. Which of the following is the principal topic of the passage? (A) What causes labor market pathologies that result in suffering (B) Why income measures are imprecise in measuri
26、ng degrees of poverty (C) Which of the currently used statistical procedures are the best for estimating the incidence of hardship that is due to unemployment (D) Where the areas of agreement are among poverty, employment, and earnings figures (E) How social statistics give an unclear picture of the
27、 degree of hardship caused by low wages and insufficient employment opportunities 2. The author uses labor market problems in lines 1-2 to refer to which of the following? (A) The overall causes of poverty (B) Deficiencies in the training of the work force (C) Trade relationships among producers of
28、goods (D) Shortages of jobs providing adequate income (E) Strikes and inadequate supplies of labor 3. The author contrasts the 1930s with the present in order to show that (A) more people were unemployed in the 1930s (B) unemployment now has less severe effects (C) social programs are more needed no
29、w (D) there now is a greater proportion of elderly and handicapped people among those in poverty (E) poverty has increased since the 1930s 4.Which of the following proposals best responds to the issues raised by the author? (A) Innovative programs using multiple approaches should be set up to reduce
30、 the level of unemployment. (B) A compromise should be found between the positions of those who view joblessness as an evil greater than economic control and those who hold the opposite view. (C) New statistical indices should be developed to measure the degree to which unemployment and inadequately
31、 paid employment cause suffering. (D) Consideration should be given to the ways in which statistics can act as partial causes of the phenomena that they purport to measure. (E) The labor force should be restructured so that it corresponds to the range of job vacancies. 5.The authors purpose in citin
32、g those who are repeatedly unemployed during a twelve-month period is most probably to show that (A) there are several factors that cause the payment of low wages to some members of the labor force (B) unemployment statistics can underestimate the hardship resulting from joblessness (C) recurrent in
33、adequacies in the labor market can exist and can cause hardships for individual workers (D) a majority of those who are jobless at any one time to not suffer severe hardship (E) there are fewer individuals who are without jobs at some time during a year than would be expected on the basis of monthly
34、 unemployment figures 6. The author states that the mitigating effect of social programs involving income transfers on the income level of low-income people is often not felt by (A) the employed poor (B) dependent children in single-earner families (C) workers who become disabled (D) retired workers
35、 (E) full-time workers who become unemployed 7. According to the passage, one factor that causes unemployment and earnings figures to overpredict the amount of economic hardship is the (A) recurrence of periods of unemployment for a group of low-wage workers (B) possibility that earnings may be rece
36、ived from more than one job per worker (C) fact that unemployment counts do not include those who work for low wages and remain poor (D) establishment of a system of record-keeping that makes it possible to compile poverty statistics (E) prevalence, among low-wage workers and the unemployed, of memb
37、ers of families in which others are employed 8. The conclusion stated in lines 33-39 about the number of people who suffer as a result of forced idleness depends primarily on the point that (A) in times of high unemployment, there are some people who do not remain unemployed for long (B) the capacit
38、y for self-support depends on receiving moderate-to-high wages (C) those in forced idleness include, besides the unemployed, both underemployed part- time workers and those not actively seeking work (D) at different times during the year, different people are unemployed (E) many of those who are aff
39、ected by unemploy- ment are dependents of unemployed workers 9. Which of the following, if true, is the best criticism of the authors argument concerning why poverty statistics cannot properly be used to show the effects of problems in the labor market? (A) A short-term increase in the number of tho
40、se in poverty can indicate a shortage of jobs because the basic number of those unable to accept employment remains approximately constant. (B) For those who are in poverty as a result of joblessness, there are social programs available that provide a minimum standard of living. (C) Poverty statisti
41、cs do not consistently agree with earnings statistics, when each is taken as a measure of hardship resulting from unemployment. (D) The elderly and handicapped categories include many who previously were employed in the labor market. (E) Since the labor market is global in nature, poor workers in one country are competing with poor workers in another with respect to the level of wages and the existence of jobs.
