2.Buying a plane ticket today can be a difficult experience,sometimes with a large number of choices to make,each with its own price tag.Checking a bag?With most airlines you'll have to pay for that---and maybe for a carry-on.Prefer an emergency exit row?That will cost you.Want to board early to take up overhead bin space (機上行李箱空間) for your roll-aboard luggage?Be ready to pay or use an airline credit card.Want a coke during drink service?Frontier Airlines charges $1.99.Each airline,large and small,has its own offerings and prices,creating a lot of other fees.
"The fees are so high these days that the actual price of the ticket loses its meaning,"said Max Levitte,co-founder of Cheapism.com,which recently charted airline fees among a dozen carriers."You feel like you're forced to pay little by little all the time.Consumers don't know what to expect unless they read the fine print,which is a lot nowadays."
What consumers call fees,airlines call unbundling (分類計價)---making choices from services formerly included in the fare.Airline officials couch it in terms of giving fliers more choices.United Airlines CEO Jeff Smisek last month likened it to customizing a pizza,"We used to serve you a pizza with all the toppings,and that's all you got,"he said during a speech at a meeting of the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce.Unbundling allows passengers to pay for only the services they want,he said.
Jean Medina,spokesman for industry group Airlines for America,said fees have a consumer benefit."The model of charging customers for services they value and are willing to pay for has enabled airlines to keep airfare affordable,"she said,adding that airfare increases since 2000 haven't kept pace with the national inflation rate.Without the revenue,airlines in 2012 would have lost more than 58 percent passenger,she said.
The fee increase began in 2008,as airlines had to deal with rising jet-fuel prices while not raising base fares,which would put them at a competitive disadvantage,said Jay Sorenen,president of IdeaWorksCompany,which regularly examines airline fees.
To be fair,some fees are for new services not formerly included in fares---wireless Internet airlines access and new economy seats with extra legroom (踏腳處),for example.Fees are big business.In 2012,airline revenue from sources other than tickets amounted to an estimated﹩36.1 billion worldwide,up 60 percent from 2010,according to IdeaWorksCompany.Fees were a big part of that growth.
"For the consumer,it is very confusing,"Airline stock analyst Hunter Keay said."Unless the consumer fights back,airlines are going to keep getting away with this and make it harder to make a good decision."
Examples?It charges﹩10 if an airport agent prints your boarding pass at the airport rather than you print it yourself at home.Its website has 38 different fees for luggage,including carry-ons.It charges﹩3 for soda or juice.
Spirit officials have defended the fee strategy,saying passengers who fly airline know what to expect."Our customers have told us again and again they want low fares and the option to choose the add-ons they want,"said Spirit spokesman Misty Pinson."And we're proud to give them what they need."
But how do you avoid fees?There's no easy answer.Mostly,you have to know what services are available and how much they cost because it's so difficult to compare fares,apples to apples,among airlines,experts say."The consumer needs to do the math,"Anne Banas,executive editor of Smart Travel.com said.
58.Paragraph 1mainly implies thatB.
A.plane tickets today are very expensive
B.a(chǎn)irline companies are creating many fees
C.a(chǎn)irlines can offer a variety of services
D.it is very difficult to choose transportation
59.According to Max Levitte,to get services well worth the money,customers had betterB.
A.pay the fees little by little
B.know the rules of the services
C.pay a visit to Cheapism.com
D.choose as few as the services
60.What can we learn about Jay Sorenen's view on"unbundling"?A
A.It helped pay for a part of jet-fuel prices.
B.It helped make airline's base fares higher.
C.It helped make airline services more attractive.
D.It helped airline companies examine the fares.
61.The underlined part in the last paragraph means"C".
A.learn math well
B.train computing power
C.compare fares and fees
D.a(chǎn)void extra fees.
分析 文章介紹了在乘坐飛機時所涉及到的fee和fare之間的差距,消費者在乘坐飛機時所花費的和所得到的服務(wù)是否等值.
解答 58-61BBAC
58.B 推理暗示題.通過第一段的介紹,特別是最后 一句話creating a lot of other fees,可知航空公司的很多方面都是需要收費的,故答案為B.
59.B 細節(jié)理解題.根據(jù)Consumers don't know what to expect unless they read the fine print,which is a lot nowadays."消費者除非讀過這些規(guī)則,否則不知道期望得到審服務(wù),故答案為B.
60.A 細節(jié)題.根據(jù)The fee increase began in 2008,as airlines had to deal with rising jet-fuel prices while not raising base fares可知,消費者所付的費用包括航空公司的飛機燃料,故答案為A.
61.C 猜測詞意題.根據(jù)最后一段的內(nèi)容可知,fee只要是飛機上一些服務(wù)的費用,而fare指乘坐飛機的費用,所以不同的航空公司有不同的服務(wù),消費者需要比較這些服務(wù),故答案為C.
點評 本文是一篇社會文化類閱讀,題目涉及推理判斷題,細節(jié)理解題,主旨大意題.做題時學生應(yīng)仔細閱讀原文,把握文章主要內(nèi)容,聯(lián)系文章上下文內(nèi)容并結(jié)合所給選項含義,從中選出正確答案,一定要做到有理有據(jù),切忌胡亂猜測.