单选题 The growth of cell-phone users in the U.S. has tapered off from the breakneck pace of 50% annually in the late 1990s to what analysts project will be a 15% to 20% rise in 2002, and no more than that in 2003. To some extent, numerous surveys have found, slower growth in demand reflects consumer disillusionment with just about every aspect of cell-phone service—its reliability, quality, and notorious customer service.
The cooling off in demand threatens to cascade through the industry: The big four U.S. cell-phone carders—Verizon Wireless, Cingular Wireless, AT&T Wireless, Sprint imperil their timetables for becoming profitable, not to mention their efforts to whittle down their mountains of debt. As the carders have begun to cut costs, wireless- equipment makers—companies such as Lucent, Nokia, and Ericsson—have been left with a market that's bound to be smaller than they had anticipated. Handset makers have been insulated so far, but they, too, face a nagging uncertainty. They'll soon introduce advanced phones to the U.S. market that will run on the new networks the carders are starting up over the next year or two. But the question then will be: Will Americans embrace these snazzy data features—and their higher costs—with the wild enthusiasm that Europeans and Asians have?
Long before the outcome in clear, the industry will have to adopt a new mind-set. "In the old days, it was all about connectivity." says Andrew Cole, an analyst with wireless consultancy Adventis. Build the network, and customers will come. From now on, the stakes will be higher. The new mantra: Please customers, or you may not survive.
To work their way out of this box, the carders are spending huge sums to address the problem. Much of Sprint PCS's $ 3.4 billion in capital outlays this year will be for new stations. And in fact, the new high-speed, high-capacity nationwide networks due to roll out later this year should help ease the calling-capacity crunch that has caused many consumer complaints. In the meantime, some companies are using better training and organization to keep customers happy.
The nation's largest rural operator, Alltel (AT), recently reorganized its call centers so that a customer's query goes to the first operator who's available anywhere in the country, instead of the first one available in the customer's home area. That should cut waiting time to one minute from three to five minutes previously.

单选题 What is the text mainly about?
A. The bad service in the U.S. cell-phone industry.
B. The crisis in the U.S. cell-phone industry.
C. The conflicts among cell-phone companies in the U.S.
D. The price of the U.S. cell-phone industry.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】[解析] 文章第1段指出手机销售量下降;第2段首句指出,需求的降温威胁到整个行业;第3、4段谈的是解决办法。因此,整篇文章谈论的是美国手机行业中出现的危机,所以B正确。
单选题 The growth of cell-phone users declines because______.
A. cell-phones are unreliable
B. cell-phones usually have poor quality
C. the customer service is bad
D. customers are not satisfied with cell-phone service
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] 文章第1段指出对手机需求的低增长率反映了消费者对手机几乎所有方面的服务都不满意,包括它的可依赖性、质量以及客户服务。因此,总体原因应为 D。
单选题 It can be inferred from the second paragraph that______.
A. the price war will reverse the present situation
B. the wireless equipment makers will try to improve the original networks
C. the handset makers will produce new phones with high technology
D. the Europeans are enthusiastic about the new advanced cell-phones
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] 文章第2段最后一句提到:美国人会像欧洲人和亚洲人那样对这些时髦的手机以及它们昂贵的价格抱有同样的感情吗?言外之意是欧洲人和亚洲人对时髦的手机抱有很高的热情,所以正确答案为D。
单选题 According to the author, the cell-phone industry must adopt a mind-set in order to______.
A. have better training and organization
B. become an indispensable part in people's life
C. build more advanced and efficient networks
D. help customers to choose proper service
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】[解析] 文章第3段指出,从现在起,赌注变得更大了。新的符咒变为:取悦用户,否则就无法生存!因此,B是要达到的目的。A、C都是取悦用户的措施之一; D未在文中提及。
单选题 In order to work their way out of the box, Sprint PCS and Alttel are taking measures to______.
A. design new advanced cell-phones in attractive form
B. reduce costs and improve the efficiency of networks
C. offer the customers better services and satisfy their needs
D. arrange the call centers to reduce the customer's waiting time
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】[解析] 文章最后一段指出,SprintPCS公司即将建成的新网络将有助于缓解通话容量过小的问题。在举Alltel的例子之前,作者指出一些公司开始利用更好的培训和组织机构力求使消费者感到满意。因此,这两家公司都在采取措施,以便于为消费者提供更好的服务,所以C正确。