请教XDF-Passage 63

Passage
63 (63/63)

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
investments on the basis of direct, tangible benefits such as cost reduction
and increased revenues. If a company is already effectively on a par (on a par:
adv.同等) with its
competitors because it provides service that avoids a damaging 5)reputation and
keeps customers from leaving at an unacceptable rate, then investment in 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
(regional bank: 美国设在联邦储备区的联邦储备银行), which failed to improve its competitive position
despite its investment in reducing the time a customer had to wait for a
teller. The bank managers did not recognize the level of customer inertia in
the consumer banking industry that arises from the inconvenience of switching
banks. 19）Nor did they analyze their service improvement to determine whether it
would attract new customers by producing a new standard of service that would
excite customers or by proving difficult for competitors to copy. 23）The only
merit of the improvement was that it could easily be described to customers.

3.    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 at an acceptable
rate.

(B) It threatened to weaken the bank’s competitive position
with respect to other regional banks.

(C) It had already been improved after having caused damage
to the bank’s reputation in the past.

(D) It was slightly superior to that of the bank’s regional
competitors.（A）

(E) It needed to be improved to attain parity with the
service provided by competing banks.

我选b答案a

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 the experiences of customers
in the bank’s offices

(C) could be sustained if the number of customers increased
significantly

(D) was an innovation that competing banks could have imitated（D）

(E) was adequate to bring the bank’s general level of
service to a level that was comparable with that of its competitors

我选b答案d

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 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（B）

(E) point out the limited duration of the actual service
improvement

我选e答案b