Part A: Reading Comprehension

Text 1

U.S. customers historically tipped people they assumed were earning most of their income via tips, such as restaurant servers earning less than the minimum wage. In the early 2010s, a wide range of businesses started processing purchases with iPads and other digital payment systems. These systems often prompted customers to tip for services that were not previously tipped.

Today’s tip requests are often not connected to the salary and service norms that used to determine when and how people tip. Customers in the past nearly always paid tips after receiving a service, such as at the conclusion of a restaurant meal, after getting a haircut or once a pizza was delivered. That timing could reward high-quality service and give workers an incentive to provide it.

It’s becoming more common for tips to be requested beforehand. And new tipping technology may even automatically add tips.

The prevalence of digital payment devices has made it easier to ask customers for a tip. That helps explain why tip requests are creeping into new kinds of services. Customers now routinely see menus of suggested default options-often well above 20% of what they owe. The amounts have risen from 10% or less in the 1950s to 15% around the year 2000 to 20% or higher today. This increase is sometimes called tipflation-the expectation of ever-higher tip amounts.

Tipping has always been a vital source of income for worker in historically tipped services, like restaurants, where the tipped minimum wage can be as low as US $ 2.13 an hour. Tip creep and tipflation are now further supplementing the income of many low-wage service workers.

Notably, tipping primarily benefits some of these workers, such as waiters, but not others, such as cooks and dishwashers. To ensure that all employees were paid fair wages, some restaurants banned tipping and increased prices, but the movement towards no-tipping services has largely fizzled out.

So to increase employee wages without raising prices, more employers are succumbing to the temptations of tip creep and tipflation. However, many customers are frustrated because they feel they are being asked for a tip too often. And, as our research emphasizes, tipping now seems to be more coercive, less generous, and often completely dissociated from service quality.

21. According to Paragraph 1, the practice of tipping in the U.S.

[A]

was regarded as a sign of generosity. 

[B]

was considered essential for waiters. 

[C]

was a way of rewarding diligence. 

[D]

was optional in most businesses. 

22. Compared with tips in the past, today’s tips

[A]

are paid much less frequently. 

[B]

are less often requested in advance. 

[C]

have less to do with service quality. 

[D]

contribute less to workers’ income. 

23. Tip requests are creeping into new kinds of services as a result of

[A]

the advancement of technology. 

[B]

the desire for income increase. 

[C]

the diversification of business. 

[D]

the emergence of tipflation. 

24. The movement toward no-tipping services was intended to

[A]

promote consumption. 

[B]

enrich income sources. 

[C]

maintain reasonable prices. 

[D]

guarantee income fairness. 

25. It can be learned from the last paragraph that tipping

[A]

is becoming a burden for customers. 

[B]

helps encourage quality service. 

[C]

is vital to business development. 

[D]

reflects the need to reduce prices. 

答案解析 (Answers & Explanations)

21. [B] was considered essential for waiters.
解析：细节题。第一段首句指出，“美国顾客在历史上通常会给那些他们认为主要通过小费获得收入（earning most of their income via tips）的人小费，比如收入低于最低工资的餐厅服务员”。这意味着人们给小费是因为他们认为这对于依赖小费生存的工人是必不可少的。因此，选 [B]“被认为对服务员来说是必不可少的（essential）”。

22. [C] have less to do with service quality.
解析：细节对比题。第二段指出，现在的小费不再与过去决定何时给小费的规范相关联；过去是在服务结束后支付，用来“奖励高质量的服务（reward high-quality service）”。而现在往往是“提前要求（requested beforehand）”（段落3）。最后一段更是直言，现在的小费“常常完全脱离了服务质量（completely dissociated from service quality）”。这说明今天的小费“与服务质量的关系变小了（have less to do with service quality）”，选 [C]。

23. [A] the advancement of technology.
解析：因果细节题。第四段明确交代了小费蔓延的原因：“数字支付设备的普及（The prevalence of digital payment devices）使得向顾客索要小费变得更加容易。这有助于解释为什么索要小费的要求正在蔓延到新类型的服务中”。数字支付设备的普及即对应选项 [A]“技术的进步（the advancement of technology）”。

24. [D] guarantee income fairness.
解析：细节题。第六段说明了无小费运动的初衷：“为了确保所有员工都能获得公平的工资（To ensure that all employees were paid fair wages），一些餐厅禁止给小费并提高了价格”。“paid fair wages（支付公平工资）”完美对应选项 [D] 中的“保证收入公平（guarantee income fairness）”。

25. [A] is becoming a burden for customers.
解析：段落推理题。最后一段指出，“许多顾客感到沮丧，因为他们觉得被要求给小费的次数太多了”，并且现在的小费似乎变得“更具强制性（more coercive）”。这说明频繁且带有强制意味的要小费行为已经引发了顾客的反感，正在“成为顾客的一种负担（is becoming a burden for customers）”，选 [A]。

核心长难句精解 (High-Light)

1. 省略关系代词的定语从句与宾语从句嵌套：
"U.S. customers historically tipped people [who] they assumed were earning most of their income via tips, such as restaurant servers earning less than the minimum wage."
【解析】`people` 后面跟着一个省略了关系代词 `who`/`that` 的定语从句。在从句中，`they assumed` 是一个插入语/主谓结构，其后跟着一个宾语从句 `(that) were earning most of their income via tips`。这句话清晰地阐释了美国早期小费文化的核心：为了补贴那些纯靠小费过活的底层劳动者。

2. 关系副词引导的定语从句与宾语从句：
"Today’s tip requests are often not connected to the salary and service norms that used to determine when and how people tip."
【解析】`that` 引导定语从句修饰 `salary and service norms`（薪水和服务规范）。在定语从句内部，`determine` 后面接了由 `when and how` 引导的并列宾语从句，说明现在强制索要小费的行为已经打破了原有的“论功行赏”的逻辑。

3. 不定式作目的状语与动名词复合结构：
"So to increase employee wages without raising prices, more employers are succumbing to the temptations of tip creep and tipflation."
【解析】句首的 `to increase...` 是动词不定式短语作目的状语（为了在不涨价的情况下提高员工工资）。在介词 `without` 后面使用了动名词 `raising`。这句话点破了商家的“小心机”：老板不想自己掏钱给员工涨工资，也不敢直接涨菜价吓跑客人，于是就屈服于“小费通胀”的诱惑，把人力成本直接转嫁给消费者。