2009年6月英語四級閱讀沖刺倒計時(倒數(shù)9天)

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　　I have had just about enough of being treated like a second-class citizen, simply because I happen to be that put-upon member of society ------ a customer. The more I go into shops and hotels, banks and post offices, railway stations, airports and the like, the more I am convinced the things are being run solely to suit the firm, the system, or the union. There seems to be an deceptive(欺騙的) new motto(座右銘) for so-called “service” organizations ---- Staff Before Service.

　　How often, for example, have you queued for what seems like hours at the Post Office or the supermarket because there were not enough staff on duty to man all the service grilles(窗口) or checkout counters? Surely in these days of high unemployment it must be possible to hire cashiers and counter staff. Yet supermarkets, hinting darkly at higher prices, claim that uncovering all their cash registers at any one time would increase overheads. And the Post Office says we cannot expect all their service grilles to be occupied “at times when demand is low”.

　　It is the same with hotels. Because waiters and kitchen staff must finish when it suits them, dining rooms close earlier or menu choice is cut short. As for us guests, we just have to put up with it. There is also the nonsense of so many friendly hotel night porters having been thrown out of their jobs in the interests of “efficiency” and replaced by coin-eating machines which offer everything from lager to laxatives(從貯藏啤酒到通便劑). Not to mention the creeping threat of the tea-making kit in your room: a kettle with a mixed collection of tea bags, plastic milk cartons and lump sugar. Who wants to wake up to a raw teabag? I do not, especially when I am paying for “service”.

　　Can it be stopped, this worsening of service, this growing attitude that the customer is always a nuisance? I angrily hope so because it is happening, sadly, in all walks of life.

　　Our only hope is to hammer home our anger whenever and wherever we can and, if all else fails, bring back into practice that other, older slogan ---- Take Our Custom(買賣) Elsewhere.

　　1. The writer feels that nowadays a customer ___.

　　A) deserves the lowest status in society

　　B) is unworthy of proper consideration

　　C) receives high quality treatment

　　D) is the victim of modern organizations

　　2 The writer argues that the quality of service is changing because _____.

　　A) customers’ demands have greatly changed

　　B) the staff receive more consideration than customers

　　C) customers’ needs have become more complex

　　D) the staff are less considerate than their employers

　　3. According to the writer, long queues at counters are caused by _____.

　　A) inadequate staffing arrangement

　　B) difficulties in hiring more efficient staff

　　C) lack of cooperation between staff members

　　D) deliberate understaffing