A
(2020·重庆八中第3月检测，C)It's funny how readily we “take the advice of complete strangers” when shopping online. More than 80 percent of Americans say they read online reviews at least some of the time. But on sites such as Amazon and Yelp, businesses have learnt to “make the most of the rating system to the seller's or the platform's advantage”， eventually “making the starrating scale useless”．Even in the case of confirmed reviews, it can be hard to know what the stars mean.
“Amazon has stepped up the effort to provide transparency，”said Louise Matsakis in Wired.com. Its “Vine voices” program sends free products for testing to an inviteonly community of “trusted reviewers”．Amazon has also started ranking its Top 10,000 Contributors on a daily leaderboard not “just by the number of reviews a person has but also by how many customers find their feedback to be helpful”．The current No.1 reviewer, a 45yearold man from North Dakota who has posted nearly 2,500 comments since 2002, has owned a bakery in Oregon，worked for a small newspaper, and had a 10year stretch in the Navy as a nuclear welding inspector. Now he spends his time testing everything from fryers to popcorn makers, though he exceeded its weight limit by 70 pounds.
“But sellers are still finding ways to deceive prospective buyers，” said a reviewer. He said, “I identified more than 150 private Facebook groups where sellers openly exchange free products for fivestar reviews. I joined four of them and was annoyed with a flurry of private messages from sellers. One offered to pay me $10 for a splendid review of what was already ‘one of the highestranked iPhone chargers’， with 3,971 fivestar reviews and a trusted ‘Amazon choice’ label.When it arrived, the charger broke within minutes. I reached out to Amazon and those thousands of fivestar reviews for the charger disappeared.”
The product now has 11 reviews and holds a rating of 2.5 stars. But before all those fivestar reviews disappeared, how many shoppers spotted this $13.99 charger pack on Amazon's firstpage results and fell for the trick?
【语篇解读】 本文为说明文，主要说明了亚马逊和Yelp等网站上一些卖家通过购买好评来吸引顾客购买自己的产品，从而使网站的星级等级系统变得毫无用处。亚马逊对此采取的措施是为消费者提供有效的审核意见来让星级评定量表变得有用，然而卖家仍在想方设法欺骗潜在买家。
1．What action has Amazon taken to make the starrating scale useful?
A．Provide effectively checked comments for consumers.
B．Give priority to the advantage of customers.
C．Decide on contributors' rank by the quantity of reviews.
D．Get reliable reviewers to test products before their release.
A [细节理解题。根据第二段中“Amazon has also started ranking its Top 10,000 Contributors on a daily leaderboard not ‘just by the number of reviews a person has but also by how many customers find their feedback to be helpful’．”可知，亚马逊通过为消费者提供有效的审核意见来让星级评定量表变得有用。故选A项。]
2．What does the underlined word “deceive” in the third paragraph most probably mean?
A．Persuade. B．Instruct.
C．Interest. D．Cheat.
D [词义猜测题。根据后文“I identified more than 150 private Facebook groups where sellers openly exchange free products for fivestar reviews.”可知，卖家通过公开交换免费产品换取五星好评的方法来欺骗买家，故推测单词意思为“欺骗”。故选D项。]
3．What do we know about the charger seller in the last two paragraphs?
A．He convinced buyers to obtain free products.
B．He attempted to obtain excellent reviews by purchase.
C．He was in hot water and deleted all untrusted reviews.
D．He tricked buyers and disappeared from Amazon.
B [推理判断题。根据倒数第二段中“One offered to pay me $10 for a splendid review of what was already ‘one of the highestranked iPhone chargers’”可知，充电器卖家试图通过购买行为获得极好的评价。故选B项。]
4．Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?
A．The Efforts of Amazon
B．The Application of Rating System
C．Not Every Star Shines So Brightly
D．Don't Fall for the Trick of Sellers
C [标题归纳题。根据第一段中“But on sites such as Amazon and Yelp，businesses have learnt to ‘make the most of the rating system to the seller's or the platform's advantage’，eventually ‘making the starrating scale useless’．”，再结合文章主要说明了亚马逊和Yelp等网站一些卖家通过购买好评来吸引顾客购买自己的产品，从而使网站的星级等级系统变得毫无用处，可知C项“不是每颗星星都那么明亮”符合文章标题。]
