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.
1. 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
2. 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
3. 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
4. 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
5. Why did Bezaq’s international branch lose 40% of its market share?
A) Because the rates it offered were not competitive enough.
B) Because customers were dissatisfied with its past service.
C) Because the service offered by its competitors was far better.
D) Because it no longer received any support from the government.
答案：1. A 2. C 3. A 4.A 5. B
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