manipulate defy demand say pay charm tell spend fail value-|||-Do you feel as confused and (1) __ as I do with this question,"Should I spend or should I save?"I think-|||-that the messages we get from our environment seem (2) __ common sense and contradict each other.The-|||-government tells us to spend or we`ll never get out of the recession.At the same time,they tell us that unless we-|||-save more, our country is in grave danger.Banks offer higher interest rates so we increase savings.Then the same-|||-banks send us credit card offers so we can spend more.-|||-Here`s another familiar example: If we don`t pay our credit card bill on time,we get(3) __ nasty-|||-emails from the credit card company (4) __ something like:"Your failure(5) __ is unacceptable.Pay-|||-immediately or you`ll be in trouble!"Then,as soon as we pay,we get a follow-up email in a (6) __ tone-|||-(7) __ us how valuable a customer we are and encouraging us to resume (8) __ Which depiction is-|||-correct:a(9) __ consumer in trouble or a(10) __ customer? The gap between these two messages is-|||-enormous.

题目解答
答案

解析
本题主要考查词汇在语境中的运用,解题时需要根据句子的逻辑、语义以及固定搭配来选择合适的词汇。
(1)
“feel as confused and... as”表示“感觉和……一样困惑和……”,这里需要一个与“confused”并列的形容词,“manipulated”意为“被操纵的”,符合语境,即感觉被这个问题操纵而困惑。
(2)
“seem to do sth.”是固定用法,“defy”有“违背,违抗”的意思,“seem to defy common sense”表示“似乎违背常识”,符合句子逻辑。
(3)
根据“nasty emails”可知,这里需要一个形容词来修饰“emails”,“demanding”意为“要求苛刻的”,“demanding, nasty emails”表示“要求苛刻且令人讨厌的邮件”,符合语境。
(4)
“saying”在这里作后置定语,修饰“emails”,表示“邮件上说……”,相当于“which say”。
(5)
“failure to do sth.”是固定用法,“failure to pay”表示“未能付款”,符合句子意思。
(6)
根据“as soon as we pay”以及后面说我们是有价值的顾客,可知邮件的语气是“有魅力的,吸引人的”,“charming”符合语境。
(7)
“telling”在这里作伴随状语,“tell sb. sth.)”表示“告诉某人某事”,“telling us how valuable we are”表示“告诉我们我们有多有价值”。
(8)
“resume doing sth.”表示“继续做某事”,“resume spending”表示“继续消费”,符合语境。
(9)
“failing”在这里作定语,修饰“consumer”,“a failing consumer”表示“一个陷入困境的消费者”,符合句子逻辑。
(10)
“valued”是过去分词作定语,“a valued customer”表示“一位受重视的顾客”,符合语境。