Everyone in business has been told that success is all about attracting and retaining(留住) customers. It sounds simple and achievable. But,   41   , words of wisdom are soon forgotten. Once companies have attracted customers they often    42   the second half of the story. In the excitement of beating off the competition, negotiating prices, securing orders, and delivering the product, managers     43    become carried away. They forget what they regard as the boring side of business---    44   that the customer remains a customer.
     45   to concentrate on retaining as well as attracting customers costs business huge amounts of money annually. It has been estimated that the    46     company loses between 10 and 30 percent of its customers every year. In constantly changing    47    , this is not surprising. What is surprising is the fact that few companies have any idea how many customers they have lost.
Only now are organizations beginning to wake up to these lost opportunities and calculate the   48  implications.     49    the number of customers a company loses can make a big    50   in its performance. Research in the US found that a five percent decrease in the number of defecting(流失的) customers led to    51   increases of between 25 and 85 percent.
In the US, Domino’s Pizza estimates that a regular customer is     52    more than five thousand dollars over ten years. A customer who receives a poor quality product or     53    on their first visit and    54     never returns, is losing the company thousands of dollars in   55    profits (more if you consider how many people they are likely to tell about their bad experience).
The logic behind cultivating customer   56    is impossible to deny. “In practice most companies’ marketing effort is focused on getting customers, with little attention paid to     57   them”, says Adrian Payne of Cornfield University’s School of Management. “Research suggests that there is a close relationship between retaining customers and making profits.     58     customers tend to buy more, are predictable and usually cost less to service than new customers. Furthermore, they tend to be less price    59   , and may provide free word-of-mouth advertising. Retaining customers also makes it   60  for competitors to enter a market or increase their share of a market.”

Roy wasn't the only one to receive his call-up（入伍）papers．Stephen Napier's call-up came at the beginning of February and he was pleased to find that he would be going into the Royal Air Force (RAF)．
His father was not so pleased and made his feelings known as he and Stephen were on their daily walk. It was the first step in his plans for Stephen to take over the estate（地产）when the time came, and although Stephen was well aware of this, he could think of no reason not to accompany him.
"Thought you'd forgotten that nonsense. Still, I dare say I could pull a few strings to get you to the Army..."
"No, Father! I have told you I want to learn to fly. What chance would I have to do that in the Army? I'd be better off in the Navy——at least they've got the Fleet Air Arm. But I have been put in the RAF and that's where I want to be, so let's leave it at that." His face went red. Sent to his father's school and then to Cambridge, much to his satisfaction, he had never had to defend his own desires and his father was a hard man to oppose.
The father glared at Stephen, "No, I won't leave it at that. I want to know what other ridiculous ideas are in your head. For a start, what's all this about America?"
"America?"
"Yes. All those books I saw in your room the other day. Brochures about emigration（移民）．"
The big, silvered head lowered, like that of a bull about to charge．"Don't trouble to deny it."
"I won't, Father. Some men at Cambridge have been talking about it. They want people like us here, mathematicians and scientists, for all kinds of research——the sort of research I could do．It would be a worthwhile life for me."
The father responded exactly as his son had known he would．"You've got a worthwhile life here！You've got an estate to run！"
"No, Father. You've got an estate to run. I never asked for it. Why not ask Baden to do this stuff? He perhaps can make a good job of it, but I..."
"If he were here, I might think about this silly idea of yours——only think about it, mind you but..."
【小题1】If Father wanted Stephen to take over the estate, the first thing he did would__________．

“This Friday we’ll have the yearly Egg Drop Challenge,” said our science teacher, Mr. Baker. “You can work alone or with a partner. ”

My friend, Cassie, and I smiled at each other. We always worked on projets__36___.

The ___37___of the challenge was simple ---to build a protective container to keep an egg from breaking when ___38___the stadium wall.

I made my sandwich that afternoon while waiting for Cassie. ___39___the butter-cream gave me an idea.

 “I have a brilliant design for our __40__container!”I said when Cassie arrived. “We can   41    the egg with some butter-cream.”

 “Why not pit the egg in a basket with a parachute(降落伞)    42   ?” Cassie rolled her eyes.  “The parachute is better than that stupid idea.”

I couldn’t believe it, Of course we’d had our little    43    in the past, but she’d never called any of my ideas “   44   ” before.

“Then I’ll build mine and you build yours!”

   45    words had been out, our friendship was challenged.

When Friday finally arrived, I had to    46     Cassie’s Egg Force One looked pretty good.   47  _, my Egg-cellent Egg Cream didn’t look quite scientific. We kids carried our containers up three stadium steps and dropped them over the side wall. Those whose eggs broke were out; those whose eggs survived    48  three more steps and dropped them again. This would go on till the last egg broke.

After four rounds, only Cassie and I were   49  . I let go of my box. I heard someone say “ew” after seconds. Had my egg broken? I raced down the    50  . The side walk was dotted with egg shells(蛋壳) from those   51  drops. Finally I found my little Egg-cellent Egg Cream.

   “That looks like egg drop soup, Laura,” Cassie said. She was holding her Egg Force One. My _52    raced. Had she won? I looked at her basket.    53    .

“My egg bounced    54  , ”she explained, pointing to a broken shell.

“A tie(平局), ”Mr. Baker said.

Cassie looked at me, and her glare    55   . I laughed. She smiled…

36.  A. patiently      B. silently        C. together        D. alone

37.  A. function      B. goal            C. reason        D. result

38.  A. rolled down   B. pushed against    C. thrown at      D. dropped over

39.  A. Spreading     B. Boiling         C. Baking        D. Holding

40.  A. butter        B. sandwich        C. cream         D. egg

41.  A. protect       B. replace          C. carry          D. mix

42.  A. followed      B. covered         C. attached       D. supported

43.  A. ideas         B. fights           C. worries        D. challenges

44.  A. wrong        B. stupid          C. brilliant       D. scientific

45.  A. Since         B. While           C. But          D. And

46.  A. explain        B. deny            C. admit        D. prove

47.  A. Therefore      B. Anyway         C. Otherwise     D. Besides

48.  A. paced down    B. turned around     C. walked up     D. went back

49.  A. left           B. wanted          C. chosen        D. discovered

50.  A. steps          B. way            C. wall          D. sidewalk

51.  A. intended       B. unexpected       C. failed        D. desired

52.  A. eyes          B. hands            C. feet         D. heart

53.  A. Lost          B. Dirty            C. Broken       D. Empty

54.  A. around        B. out              C. in           D. down

55.  A. returned       B. remained         C. increased     D. softened

I was eight when my neighbors got a TV. It was small and expensive, but that didn’t matter. IT WAS WONDERFUL. Everyone in the building came up to the fifth floor to see this latest wonder of the modern world. That was in 1948.

Soon, a lot of people got a TV, but not us. My parents didn’t think it was good for children. Being a good son, I didn’t argue with them. But I secretly watch TV—at my friends’ homes.

By 1955, televisions weren’t so expensive and were much larger. My parents still thought they were not good for us, but my sisters insisted, saying they were the only people in the neighborhood who didn’t have one. All their friends talked about certain programs and actors, but they couldn’t. Their friends laughed at them, which made them feel very unhappy. My youngest sister cried, saying she was never going back to school and that life without a TV wasn’t worth living. Nothing my parents said made her feel better. The next morning, without telling us, they went out and got a new TV.

When we were young our parents allowed us to watch TV for two hours a night. And we couldn’t watch until our homework was finished. But after a year or two, TV wasn’t exciting or new anymore. It became just another part of our lives like shoes or soap. My parents still had fears about TV. We were going to forget how to read, and TV was going to fill our minds with violence, they said.

Today people still argue about the value of TV. Nobody can deny the power of TV, which has a powerful influence on our lives. On average, Americans spend 30 hours a week watching TV. Is this influence good or bad? This is an unanswerable question indeed: It is hard enough to measure influence; and it is even harder to decide what is good and what isn’t. What is good, I suppose, is that many people are concerned about TV’s influence and that we have the power to change what we don’t like.

The people of Monhegan Island, 18 kilometers away off the coast of Maine, don’t have electricity, and they decided; once again, that they liked that way. Electricity, they think, would make life too easy and spoil their way of life. Maybe the young people wouldn’t want to go to town dances anymore. Maybe they would be more interested in staying at home and watching TV.

1.How old was the author, when their family got a TV?

A. About 15.      B. 8.               C. 18.              D. About 10.

2.The author’s parents finally decided to buy a TV because _______.

A. they wanted to meet their daughters’ needs .

B. the children couldn’t go to school without a TV

C. the sisters would like to be like their friends

D. they had to do as the youngest daughter told them to

3.The author thinks “to judge whether a TV’s influence is good or bad” is ________.

A. concerning     B. hard             C. meaningless       D. important

4.The last paragraph is written to show ________.

A. the disadvantage of TV

B. TV influences people a great deal

C. the advantage of TV

D. we can change what we don’t like

第二节：完形填空（共20小题，每小题1.5分，满分30分）

It was hard to accept, but the horrible day had finally arrived. I still remember the tears in my six-year-old sister’s eyes as she looked around the  36_closet in wonder. The space once filled with 37_ clothes now held only loneliness and sorrow. This little child had come to the 38_ that her father was gone. He had  39_ us, and there was simply no way to change it.

Being the 40_ of four girls has never been easy, but with the departure of our father, our  41_ and dreams were ruined beyond repair. My mother, the most amazingly warm-hearted person in the world, worked harder than anyone should simply to  42_ our broken family. However, long hours at work often prevented her from  43_ being there in our times of need. This is where I have acted as the temporary  44_ of my three small sisters.

Many students  45_ essays about their leadership positions in school and the community, but I  46_that my greatest accomplishment is the  47_ I have played within my own family.

The senior year in high school is not  48_ for anyone, especially when it feels like the entire world is  49_ on your shoulders. I’ve been trying hard to fulfill the dream my mother  50_ for my future. She was not able  51_ her college education dure to lack of money, 52_ this success is her top priority(优先处理的事)for her  53_.

A leader is described as noe who has influence on others. I hope that my leadership  54_ the lives of my sisters and everyone around me. In  55_myself to my family and school, I have set goals that I will accomplish great things.

36.A.heavy       B.full         C.empty   D.broken

37.A.her  B.his         C.our        D.their

38.A.protection        B.prediction     C.realization    D.imagination

39.A.left  B.avoided         C.controlled     D.believed

40.A.busiest    B.happiest        C.smartest       D.oldest

41.A.career      B.world    C.school   D.company

42.A.examine  B.suit        C.enjoy     D.mend

43.A.physically         B.carefully        C.mentally        D.proudly

44.A.caretaker         B.playmate      C.teacher         D.friend

45.A.hate         B.write     C.learn     D.teach

46.A.ignore      B.feel        C.deny      D.regret

47.A.card          B.music    C.role       D.game

48.A.sad  B.boring   C.hard      D.simple

49.A.resting     B.working         C.focusing        D.basing

50.A.abandons         B.explains         C.continues      D.holds

51.A.give B.complete      C.survive D.forget

52.A.as    B.but        C.so D.or

53.A.future      B.job         C.family   D.children

54.A.saves       B.risks      C.affects  D.spends

55.A.presenting       B.devoting        C.connecting   D.attaching