Question

 It’s hard not to feel cheated and over-charged when you receive unexpected roaming (漫游) charges while traveling abroad—whether they come from making phone calls or checking e-mails.

Jeff Gardner received an $ 11,000 bill from Verizon after spending four days in Jamaica. Before the trip, Mr. Gardner, who runs a fly-fishing business in Grayling, Michigan, said he called Verizon to find out what it would cost to use his cellphone for calls and his wireless card to check e-mails while in Jamaica. He said he was told that calls would be about $ 2 a minute and that there would be no extra charges for data as he was on an unlimited plan. The latter part turned out to be wrong.

“I don’t mind paying a fair amount for fair service, but $11,000 for four days is ridiculous,” said Mr. Gardner, who used his phone carefully and economically on the trip. He also tried to check and send e-mails using his wireless card, but quickly gave up after the e-mails didn’t go through. Still, his Verizon bill said more than 500,000 kilobytes (千字節) of data was delivered while he was in Jamaica, an amount Mr. Gardner said is 100 times what he normally uses in a month.

As travelers increasingly use smart phones abroad in the same way they do at home—to check e-mails, update Facebook and Twitter and pull up online maps—many are facing costly roaming fees, which providers charge when customers use their phones outside their service area. In fact, roaming charges have gotten so out of hand that the Federal Communications Commission has proposed a plan that would require wireless companies to send their customers a voice or text message when they are approaching their plan’s limit, when they have reached that limit and when they are starting to result in roaming fees.

1. Why did Jeff Gardner call Verizon before his trip to Jamaica?

A. To hand over his business.    

B. To check his cellphone bill

C. To find out information about Jamaica.

D. To find out information about roaming charges.

2.What does the underlined sentence in Paragraph 2 mean?

A. Extra charges were made for Jeff Gardner’s data delivery.

B. Jeff Gardner’s calls were charged over $2 per minute.

C. Jeff Gardner’s plan turned out to be limited.

D. Jeff Gardner had difficulty delivering data abroad.

3.During the trip, Jeff Gardner______.

A. was careless with phone use

B. delivered no more data than at home

C. received quite poor e-mail services

D. frequently used his wireless card to send e-mails

4.What should wireless companies do according to the Federal Communications Commission?

A. Make customers know when they’re outside their service area.

B. Get customers informed when they’re near the limit of their plan.

C. Stop serving customers when they’ve reached their plan’s limit.

D. Limit some services to reduce the amount of roaming charges abroad.

 

Answer 1

【答案】

 

1.D

2.A

3.C

4.B

【解析】

試題分析：本文講述了Jeff 在國外旅游時收到了預想不到的漫游費，感到很憤怒，以及由此引發的爭論。

1.細節理解題。由文章第一段第五行至段末可知，Jeff called Verizon 目的是了解關于在國外使用手機及收發電子郵件的收費問題。

2.句意理解題。原句直接理解為：后者證明是錯的。即Verizon 說的后一句話證明是錯誤的，因為從上文可知Jeff 在國外時由于使用手機而被收了很多的漫游費，這與Verizon 所說的沒有額外的收費是不一致的。

3.細節理解題。由文章第二段but quickly gave up after the e-mails didn’t go through. Still, his Verizon bill said more than 500,000 kilobytes (千字節) of data was delivered while he was in Jamaica, an amount Mr. Gardner said is 100 times what he normally uses in a month可知Jeff 在國外旅游時，e-mail 的速度很慢，故答案選C。

4.細節理解題。由文章最后一段Federal Communications Commission has proposed a plan that would require wireless companies to send their customers a voice or text message when they are approaching their plan’s limit,可知。

考點：社會類短文閱讀。