For years Internet merchants have poured millions of dollars into new technologies to make their sites easier to use. So why aren’t online customers happier
Customer satisfaction levels have remained almost flat through the last several years. The problem, according to Larry Freed, chief executive of a consulting and research firm called ForeSee Results, is not so much that consumers have ignored the many improvements made in recent years. Rather, he said, they still expect more from Internet shopping than it has delivered.
"If we walk into a local store, we don’t expect that experience to be better than it was a couple years ago," Mr. Freed said. "But we expect sites to be better. The bar goes up every year." In ForeSee’s latest survey, released last month, just five e-commerce sites registered scores higher than 80 out of 100, and no site scored higher than 85. It was much the same story a year ago, when just five scored higher than 80, with no site surpassing 85. "Scores have inched up over time for the best e-commerce companies, but the overall numbers haven’t moved drastically," Mr. Freed said. "At the same time though, if you don’t do anything you see your scores drop steadily."
That dynamic has been a challenge for online merchants and investors, who a decade ago envisioned Internet stores as relatively inexpensive (and therefore extremely profitable ) operations. Now some observers predict a future where online retailers will essentially adopt something like the QVC model, with sales staff pitching the site’s merchandise with polished video presentations, produced in a high-tech television studio.
QVC. com is evolving in that direction. The Web site, which sold more than $1 billion in merchandise’ in 2006, has for the last five years let visitors watch a live feed of the network’s broadcast. But in recent months, QVC. com has also given visitors the chance to watch archives of entire shows, and in the coming months visitors will be able to find more video segments from recent shows, featuring individual products that remain in stock. Bob Myers, senior vice president of QVC. com, said the Web site’s video salesmanship is especially effective when combined with detailed product information, customer reviews and multiple photographs.
About eight months ago, for instance, a customer said that she could not determine the size of a handbag from the photographs on the site because she could not tell the height of the model who was holding it. Within two weeks the site tested and introduced a new system, showing the bags with women of three different heights. The results were immediate: women who saw the new photographs bought the bags at least 10 percent more frequently than those who had not.
Still, Mr. Myers said, video is a critically important element to sales. "E-commerce started with television commerce," he said. "The sites who engage and entertain customers will be winning here in the near future." Such a prospect is not necessarily daunting to other e-commerce executives. Gordon Magee, head of Internet marketing for Drs. Foster & Smith, based in a Rhinelander, Wis. said a transition to video "will be seamless for us." The company, Mr. Magee said, has in recent weeks discussed putting some of its product on video "so customers could see a 360-degree view they don’t have to manipulate themselves.
It can be inferred from the passage that

A:some people used to regard E-commerce as profit-loaded. B:E-commerce is no longer exploitable in terms of profit. C:QVC envisioned the adoption of videos in sales a decade ago. D:polished video presentations must be made in a high-tech studio.

Part A
Directions:
Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1.
Text 1

A:some people used to regard E-commerce as profit-loaded. B:E-commerce is no longer exploitable in terms of profit. C:QVC envisioned the adoption of videos in sales a decade ago. D:polished video presentations must be made in a high-tech studio.

Section Ⅱ Reading Comprehension
Part A
Directions:
Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1.
Text 1

A:some people used to regard E-commerce as profit-loaded. B:E-commerce is no longer exploitable in terms of profit. C:QVC envisioned the adoption of videos in sales a decade ago. D:polished video presentations must be made in a high-tech studio.

In every British town, large and small, you will find shops that sell second-hand goods. Sometimes such shops deal mostly in furniture, sometimes in books, sometimes in household goods, sometimes even in clothes.
The furniture may often be "antique" and it may well have changed hands many times. It may also be very valuable, although the most valuable pieces will usually go to the London salerooms, where one piece might be sold for hundreds of thousands of pounds. As you look around these shops and see the polished(擦亮的) wooden boxes and tables, you can’t help thinking sadly of those long—dead hands which polished that wood, of those now—closed eyes which once looked at these pieces with love.
The books, too, may be antique and very valuable; some may be rare first printings. Often when someone dies or has to move to a new place his books may all be sold, so that sometimes you may find whole libraries in one shop. On the border between England and Wales, there is a town which was once only a sheep market, but which has now become a huge bookshop as well. And now books have replaced sheep as the town’s main trade.
Although the British do not worship their ancestors, they do treasure the past and the things of the past. This is true of houses as well. These days no one knocks them down; they are restored until they are often better than new. In Britain, people do not buy something just because it is new. Old things are treasured(珍藏) for their proven worth; new things have to prove themselves before they are accepted.

A:may have had many former owners B:is on sale mainly in London salerooms C:has usually been polished before being sold D:has usually been rejected

Limestone that can be highly polished is (termed) marble.

A:improved by B:similar to C:known as D:substituted for

Limestone that can be highly polished is (termed) marble.

A:improved by B:similar to C:known as D:substituted for

Limestone that can be highly polished is (termed) marble.

A:improved by B:similar to C:known as D:substituted for