广东省广州市2013届高三考前训练题（英语）【2013广州三模】
I 语言知识及应用 (共两节，满分45分)
第一节 完形填空 (共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分)
阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，然后从1～15各题所给的A、B、C和D项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Some years ago, Houston airport faced a troubling customer-relations issue. Passengers were making a huge number of 1 about the long waits at baggage claim (行李提取处). In response, the airport managers 2 the number of baggage handlers. The plan worked: the average wait fell to eight minutes. But the complaints 3 despite the apparent success.
4 , the managers undertook a more careful, on-site analysis. They found that it took passengers a minute to walk from their 5 gates to baggage claim and seven more minutes to get their bags. Roughly 88 percent of their time, in other words, was spent standing around 6 waiting for their bags.
So the airport decided on a new approach: instead of reducing wait time, it 7 the arrival gates farther away from baggage claim area. Passengers now had to 8 six times longer to get their bags. Complaints dropped to near zero.
This story shows a general 9 : the experience of waiting is defined only partly by the actual length of the wait. Often the psychology of queuing is more 10 than the length of the wait itself. Occupied time (walking to baggage claim) feels 11 than unoccupied time (standing at baggage claim). Research on 12 has shown that, on average, people overestimate how long they’ve waited in a line by about 36 percent.
This is also why one finds mirrors next to lifts. The spread of high-rise buildings after World War II led to complaints about lift 13 . The motive behind the mirrors was 14 to the one used at the Houston airport: give people something to 15 their time, and the wait seems shorter.
1. A. suggestions B. questions C. complaints D. challenges
2. A. evaluated B. counted C. decreased D. increased
