英语六级长篇阅读练习题3.docx

1、英语六级长篇阅读练习题32019年12月英语六级长篇阅读练习题(3) Section BDirections： In this section, you are going to read a passage with ten statements attached to it Each statement contains information given in one of the paragraphs Identify the paragraph from which the information is derived You may choose a paragraph more

2、than once Each paragraph is marked with a letter Answer the questions by marking the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 Why Are Airlines Withholding Seats?A A few months ago I booked a flight for two and then went to select seats on the airlines site Based on the destination and time of year, I

3、was surprised to find only two adjacent seats were available without paying a premium (额外费用) But I was even more surprised a few weeks later, when we boarded the aircraft and a flight attendant announced that only 30% of seats were occupied, so we should all feel free to stretch out B So how could a

4、 flight that looked nearly full a month earlier wind up with seven out of ten seats empty? Thats a question only the airlines can answer, and theyre not eager to provide many details C Are some carriers intentionally holding back seat assignments, in the hope well all pay for premium seats?Its a fai

5、r question, and the evidence is intriguing Behind the screen indeedD An awful plot goes on behind airline and travel booking screens, and much of it is strictly off-limits to consumers What we do know is that for decades now airlines have become masters of what the industry calls yield management, o

6、ffering millions of combinations of fares based on advance purchase patterns and other booking trends, so nearly everyone pays a different price based on when they buy But now that paying extra for your seat selection has become common practice, securing your reservation is just half the battle E So

7、me industry experts have connected the dots Theyre trying to get people to buy premium seats, says George Hobica, USATODAY coms Fly Guy columnist and the founder of Airfarewatchdog com They want to increase revenue And were getting more complaints about it He notes that it really annoys passengers w

8、ho want to sit together, particularly when traveling with small children F Hes echoed by Kevin Mitchell, chairman of the Business Travel Coalition (联盟)： With yield management,consumers are aware and they know that airlines are constantly changing prices on seats But if this is true, it is unethical-

9、theyre grossly misleading us The thing that I find so offensive is conveying to me that I have no options, but if I wait a week or two then I do have options G According to the airlines, the reason for ancillary ( 附加的 ) revenue is unbundling (分类计价) ticket prices,so passengers who desire a given serv

10、ice-say checking a bag or ordering a soft drink-pay for it, while those who dont are spared the cost But as Mitchell notes, Theres another twist to this The airlines are saying fees are for optional services Well, seats arent optional! H Of course, securing a good seat isnt an issue if youre in firs

11、t class or youre an elite member of a frequent flyer program But what about the rest of us? As Ive pointed out repeatedly in recent columns, were faced with record-high load factors, the highest for the U S airline industry since World War II But even with the average percentage of occupied seats fo

12、r domestic flights at 82 7%, its still an average-some flights will be fuller but others will not, particularly weeks in advance Yet searching for seats keeps getting harder and harder Seats for saleI Hobica cites the major airlines as the prime culprits (起因), but he also notes even low-cost carrier

13、s can make securing seats difficult On the flip side, he credits JetBlue and Virgin America for providing customers with clear policies And then there is British Airways, which allows passengers in economy and business classes to select seats only 24 hours in advance I asked an airline representativ

14、e if seeing fewer free seats is a trend, and the response was： Thats going to vary because there are so many variables J I decided to check on seat availability at Delta com I inquired about economy-class availability for two seats on a busy route-Atlanta to Chicago-and conducted an apples-to-apples

15、 search for the same morning departure seven days in advance, and again 14 days in advance For the flight one week out, a total of only eight seats were available, one preferred and seven standard, but only one set of two seats together For the flight two weeks out, a total of 29 seats were availabl

16、e, consisting of 20 preferred and only nine standard, and still with only one set together Remarkable how even twice the booking time still produced so few free seats, separately or together, yet there were plenty of seats that could be bought for the fight price K I contacted Delta and a spokesman said the price for preferred econo