OG11-紫书-阅读41--46（头痛）

yangluoya

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 with its competitors because

it provides service that avoids a damaging 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，

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．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．The only merit of the improvement

was that it could easily be described to customers．

Questions 41—46 refer to the passage above-

41．The primary purpose of the passage is to

(A)  contrast possible outcomes of a type of business investment

(B)  suggest more careful evaluation of a type of business investment

(C)  illustrate various ways in which a type of business investment could fall 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 business investments

42．  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 weigh

(D)  insufficient analysis that managers devote to them

(E)  degree of competitive advantage that they are likely to provide

43．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．

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

44．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 imitatedb

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

45．The discussion of the regional bank(1ines 16—27) 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 in 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 a are more    advantageous than investments in other aspects of service．

(E)  It provides an example of the point about investment in service made in the first paragraph．

文章看起来并不难，但是题出得很刁钻。

43．The passage suggests which of the following about service provided

 by the regional bank prior to its investment in enhancing that service?

谁能给我说说这句话的意思呀？这个prior to在这里什么意思啊？

 by the regional bank prior to its investment in enhancing that service?

谁能给我说说这句话的意思呀？这个prior to在这里什么意思啊？

[此贴子已经被作者于2007-7-11 22:00:07编辑过]

瞳色九月

43就是问你区域银行在对提高服务进行投资之前的服务情况

要找的是第一段

hhybigfool

一道逻辑推理题

题目的比较拗口。什么是investment in enhancing that service的前提条件？反过来说就是在什么情况和条件下，investment in enhancing that service是无用的，无效的！

请lz在看看