Section A: Banked Cloze

Directions: In this section, there is a passage with ten blanks. You are required to select one word for each blank from a list of choices given in a word bank following the passage. Read the passage through carefully before making your choices. Each choice in the bank is identified by a letter. Please mark the corresponding letter for each item. You may not use any of the words in the bank more than once.

Nowadays you can't buy anything without then being asked to provide a rating of a company's performance on a five-star scale.

I've been asked to rate my “store (26) ______” on the EFTPOS terminal before I can pay. Even the most (27) ______ activities, such as calling Telstra or picking up a parcel from Australia Post, are followed by texts or emails with surveys asking, “How did we do?”

Online purchases are (28) ______ followed up by a customer satisfaction survey. Companies are so (29) ______ for a hit of stars that if you delete the survey the company sends you another one.

We're (30) ______ to rate our apps when we've barely had a chance to use them. One online course provider I use asks you what you think of the course after you've only completed (31) ______ 2 per cent of it.

Economist Jason Murphy says that companies use customer satisfaction ratings because a (32) ______ display of star feedback has become the nuclear power sources of the modern economy.

However, you can't help but (33) ______ if these companies are basing their business on fabrications. I (34) ______ that with online surveys I just click the (35) ______ that's closest to my mouse cursor to get the damn thing off my screen. Often the star rating I give has far more to do with the kind of day I'm having than the purchase I just made.

Word Bank

A) announce

B) commonplace

C) confess

D) desperate

E) experience

F) fascinated

G) option

H) prompted

I) roughly

J) routinely

K) shining

L) showering

M) variety

N) voyage

O) wonder

Answers & Explanations

26. E (experience)。解析：位于形容词 my store 之后，构成复合名词。store experience 意为“购物体验”。

27. B (commonplace)。解析：位于定冠词 the 和形容词 most 之后，修饰 activities。意为“最平常的/司空见惯的 (commonplace)”活动。

28. J (routinely)。解析：修饰动词短语 are followed up，需填副词。意为网上购物“例行公事般地/通常 (routinely)”会有后续调查。

29. D (desperate)。解析：位于 so...that 结构中，且在系动词 are 之后作表语。固定搭配 be desperate for 意为公司对好评如此“极度渴望 (desperate)”。

30. H (prompted)。解析：位于 We're 之后，需填过去分词构成被动语态。be prompted to do 意为“被促使/被提示去做某事”。

31. I (roughly)。解析：修饰数字 2 per cent，需填副词。意为“大约/大致 (roughly)”2%。

32. K (shining)。解析：修饰名词 display。意为“一个闪亮的 (shining) 展示”，常用来形容五星好评的光环。

33. O (wonder)。解析：位于 can't help but 之后，需填动词原形。意为“不禁想知道/疑惑 (wonder)”。

34. C (confess)。解析：句子主语是 I，后接 that 从句，缺谓语动词。意为“我坦白/承认 (confess)”。

35. G (option)。解析：位于定冠词 the 之后，作 click 的宾语。意为点击离光标最近的“选项 (option)”。

核心搭配与高分句型

【核心搭配与高频短语】

• on a five-star scale：在五星制评分标准上
• pick up a parcel：取包裹
• follow up：跟进，后续行动（followed up by a customer satisfaction survey）
• be desperate for：极度渴望...
• have barely had a chance to：几乎没有机会去...
• can't help but do sth.：忍不住/不禁做某事（can't help but wonder）
• base sth. on：把...建立在...之上（basing their business on fabrications 把业务建立在捏造上）
• get sth. off one's screen：把某物从屏幕上弄走
• have far more to do with... than...：与...的关系远大于...（has far more to do with the kind of day I'm having than the purchase I just made）

【亮点句型解析】

• Double Negation 强调句型 (没有...是不被...)：
  "Nowadays you can't buy anything without then being asked to provide a rating..."
  （如今，你买任何东西都不会不被要求提供评分... 即：买任何东西都会被要求评分。）使用 `can't... without...` 构成双重否定表肯定，语气极强，生动刻画了评分系统的无孔不入。
• So... that... 结果状语从句：
  "Companies are so desperate for a hit of stars that if you delete the survey the company sends you another one."
  （公司对星星如此渴望，以至于如果你删除了调查，公司会再发一个给你。）`so + adj. + that` 句型在四级写作中常用来描写某种现象达到了极端的程度，逻辑清晰。