It’s hard not to feel cheated and over-charged when you receive unexpected roaming (漫游) charges while traveling abroad—whether they e 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 (千字节) 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 panies 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.
【小题1】Why did Jeff Gardner call Verizon before his trip to Jamaica?A．To hand over his business.B．To check his cellphone billC．To find out information about Jamaica.D．To find out information about roaming charges.【小题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.【小题3】During the trip, Jeff Gardner .A．was careless with phone useB．delivered no more data than at homeC．received quite poor e-mail servicesD．frequently used his wireless card to send e-mails【小题4】What should wireless panies 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.D
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(答案→)D
解析：你有过高昂的手机漫游费的经历吗？你认为这合理吗？Jeff Gardner在去牙买加旅游前咨询时，运营商说费用很低，结果四天的旅游让他收到了一万一千美元的漫游费。而他连一个电子邮件都没查到和寄出。很多人有过类似的经历。运营商应该事先告知用户要收取漫游费。
【小题1】细节理解题。根据第二段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.可知。他打电话是要咨询关于手机漫游的问题。故选D。
【小题2】句意猜测题。根据下一段的单据花费是四天$11,000可知，咨询说的每分钟$ 2是错的。故选A。
【小题3】细节理解题。根据第三段介绍，他发电子邮件没成功很快就放弃了，说明电子邮件服务差，所以选C。
【小题4】细节理解题。根据文章最后一句话可知，通讯公司应该在消费者将要超过其计划消费时提前告知手机用户。故选B。