Question

    The true purpose of a business, Peter Drucker said, is to create and keep customers. “Customer value” has several definitions. I use the ______ to mean the total lifetime value of a company’s customer base. Companies can increase this value by ______ more customers, earning more business from existing ones, keeping them longer, making their experience simpler through digital improvements and so on. ______ leaders have long understood the importance of concentrating on customer value rather than pursuing short-term profits or quarterly earnings, and they’ve become enduring customer loyalty leaders in the process. It’s worth noting that a number of loyalty-leading companies are able to ______ shareholder pressure, or avoid it altogether, because they are founder-led, customer-owned, or not publicly traded.

Companies can ______ customer value in a variety of ways: To increase ______, enterprise software companies sometimes charge corporate customers change fees that can raise the total cost of ownership to as much as three times the original price. To reduce operating costs, restaurant chains sometimes ______ frozen and precooked ingredients in place of fresh and made-to-order food. The resulting profits may look good on the income statement. Such strategies may even lead to short-term earnings growth. But they also ______ potential customers and encourage disloyalty.

Given the importance of customer value, leaders should track it as much as they track other key assets (资产), such as buildings, machinery, and marketable securities. They also should reveal it in their quarterly and annual earnings releases so that investors can make ______ judgments about company performance and how it compares with that of industry peers. But most companies ________believe that measuring customer value is too difficult or costly. They continue to rely on a centuries-old accounting tradition that emphasizes physical and financial assets, and neither income statements nor balance sheets offer much ______ into the value of a company’s customers.

As investors wake up to the importance of customer value, however, many growth-stage companies now direct investors’ attention to ______ in growing the value of their customer base. Some public companies increasingly report various types of customer value metrics (指标). One of the UK’s top energy suppliers E.ON, ______, reports year-over-year customer counts in its financial report. “As a customer-focused company,” E.ON noted, “we see customer value as crucial to our success.”

This is a start, but because there are no customer-value reporting standards or requirements, investors still have a(n) ______ picture. The minority of companies that do provide customer value information decide for themselves what to disclose. ______, firms may calculate customer metrics differently or change them to tell a desired story, or simply stop reporting them if they fail to go with the company’s preferred narrative.

1.A.item B.version C.term D.definition

2.A.persuading B.consulting C.acquiring D.inspecting

3.A.Considerate B.Visionary C.Determined D.Powerful

4.A.resist B.relieve C.intensify D.maintain

5.A.raise B.adopt C.calculate D.destroy

6.A.income B.experience C.productivity D.demand

7.A.separate B.substitute C.forbid D.combine

8.A.appeal to B.rely on C.put down D.scare off

9.A.informed B.subjective C.definitive D.independent

10.A.fully B.hardly C.readily D.wrongly

11.A.suspicion B.extension C.literacy D.visibility

12.A.sacrifice B.success C.prejudice D.expense

13.A.as a result B.for example C.on the contrary D.in general

14.A.incomplete B.depressing C.convincing D.vivid

15.A.Instead B.Further C.Otherwise D.Therefore

Answer

1.C

2.C

3.B

4.A

5.D

6.A

7.B

8.D

9.A

10.D

11.D

12.B

13.B

14.A

15.B

【解析】

本题是一篇说明文。讲述了顾客价值对于公司发展的重大意义。

1.考查名词词义辨析。句意：我使用的这个术语指的是一个公司客户群的整个生命周期价值。A. item项；B. version版本；C. term术语；D. definition定义。该空上一句提及的customer value是一个术语，并不是一个定义。故选C项。

2.考查动词词义辨析。句意：公司通过提高这种价值来赢得更多客户。A. persuading说服；B. consulting咨询；C. acquiring获得；D. inspecting视察，观察。通过“earning more business from existing ones”（从现有的客户里赚取更多的利润），可以判断出获得更多客户才有更多利润。故选C项。

3.考查形容词词义辨析。句意：有眼见的领导者早已理解将注意力转移到客户价值的重要性，而不是追求短期效益和季度效益。A. considerate体贴的；B. visionary有预见的；C. determined决绝的；D. powerful有力的。该空后提及“领导早已理解客户价值的重要性”，这里强调的是那些有远见、深谋远虑的领导。故选B项。

4.考查动词词义辨析。句意：值得注意的是有许多把客户忠诚度看得重的公司能够抵御股东压力。A. resist抵抗；B. relieve减轻；C. intensify加强；D. maintain维持。根据后句的“or avoid it altogether”（或者可以一同抵御它们），可以判断该空与后面的句子在语义上表达的同一个意思，即抵御风险。故选A项。

5.考查动词词义辨析。句意：在很多方式上，公司也可能破坏了顾客价值。A. raise提出；B. adopt采纳，收养；C. calculate计算；D. destroy破坏。通过该段后文的“Such strategies may even lead to short-term earnings growth. But they…”（如此策略甚至会导致短期的收益增长，但是……）从这句可以判断出，短期策略对公司长久发展是不利。故选D项。

6.考查名词词义辨析。句意：为了提高收入，计算机公司有时向公司顾客征收公司所有权变更费，高达原始费用3倍之多。A. income收入；B. experience经历，经验；C. productivity生产力；D. demand要求。通过该段后文的“The resulting profits may look good on the income statement.”（ 结果从收入账单上看，最后收益看起来还不错）。可以看出，公司采取这些策略的目的是提高收益，减少成本。故选A项。

7.考查动词词义辨析。句意：为了减少运营成本，一些连锁餐馆有时会用速冻或预加工食材而不是新鲜的、定制的食物。A. separate分隔；B. substitute代替；C. forbid禁止；D. combine组合。该句上提及“To reduce operating costs”（为了减少运营成本），可以判断出公司会采取手段来缩减运营成本，用速冻或预加工产品代替新鲜定制的食物会提升餐馆运营效率，从而提高营业额。故选B项。

8.考查动词短语辨析。句意：他们会把潜在客户吓跑并助长客户“不忠”。A. appeal to对……有吸引力；B. rely on依靠；C. put down放下；D. scare off吓跑。该空前一句提及“Such strategies may even lead to short-term earnings growth.”（如此策略甚至会得到短期收入增长），但话锋一转，作者使用了but，可以推断出其实这种做法并不是最可靠有效的，甚至是吓跑潜在客户群。故选D项。

9.考查形容词词义辨析。句意：投资者可以对公司的业绩表现有一个清晰的评判。A. informed了解情况的；B. subjective主观的；C. definitive确信的；D. independent独立自主的。下文提及公司应该公开一些报表数据，从消费者角度就可以得到更多信息从而客观评价公司的业绩了。故选A项。

10.考查副词词义辨析。句意：但大多数公司错误地认为衡量顾客价值是一项困难且开销大的事情。A. fully彻底地；B. hardly艰难地；C. readily毫不犹豫，迅速地；D. wrongly错误地。该空前面的but可以推断出，在现实当中，大多数公司并没有像文章中那样做，而是理所当然认为衡量顾客价值的方法不可取。故选D项。

11.考查名词词义辨析。句意：收入账单及结余账单都无法充足地提供关于公司客户价值数据。A. suspicion怀疑；B. extension拓展；C. literacy素养；D. visibility可见。因为上文提及好多公司并没有恒量顾客价值，自然也就没有可看得到的相关数据。故选D项。

12.考查名词词义辨析。句意：现在，许多公司都将注意力转移到如何成功提高客户群的价值上面。A. sacrifice牺牲；B. success成功；C. prejudice偏见；D. expense花费。上文提及虽然有很多公司开始考虑顾客价值这一问题，但是还是有很多公司没有考虑如何成功提升客户群价值上面了。故选B项。

13.考查短语辨析。句意：例如，英国顶尖的能源供应商（E.ON），每年都会在财务报道中纰漏其客户人头。A. as a result因此；B. for example例如；C. on the contrary恰相反；D. in general大体上。作者在这里以英国能源供应商的实际例子来支撑客户价值意义这一观点。故选B项。

14.考查形容词词义辨析。句意：投资者并没有一个完整的图景（整体情况）。A. incomplete不完整的；B. depressing沮丧的，萧条的；C. convincing有说服力的；D. vivid栩栩如生的。前文提及“This is a start, but because there are no customer-value reporting standards or requirements”（这才是开始，没有客户价值体系标准及要求）可以判断，在这一“客户价值”问题还有许多事情亟待完善，所以对于投资者来说，图景是不完整的。故选A项。

15.考查副词词义辨析。句意：再者，公司统计客户价值指标也各不相同，也会改变指标编造一个想得到的故事。A. instead事实上；B. further进一步，再者；C. otherwise否则；D. therefore因此。该空前后提及的两种情况是递进关系，所以使用“更进一步”较为合适。故选B项。