統測
110年
[外語群英語類] 專業科目(2)
第 18 題
📖 題組：
Meet the People’s Company. Like a democracy, it can be a noisy place where citizens sometimes think the people in charge have no idea what they’re doing. But at eBay, the online auction site, the people are in charge. Its customers – the 70 million buyers and sellers who trade here – have the kind of influence that most consumers and businesses can only dream of. It’s true, eBay has a business model that doesn’t require carrying any inventory. But the real secret of eBay’s unlikely success is this: it’s a master at capturing the awesome communication power of the Internet and tracking customers’ every movement, so new products and services are tailored to just what they want.( ① ) eBay’s customers are its product development, market research, merchandising, and sales department – all rolled into one. It’s not just that they have made eBay into a global marketplace for almost anything, from a $1 baseball card to a $4.9m Gulfstream jet, eBay’s customers also tell the world about eBay by word of mouth.( ② )They crowd online discussion boards, share tips, point out problems, and lobby for changes. eBay’s customers even police the site by rating each other. Imagine a retailer trying to do this: interview every single person leaving every store, post a list of what each thought of the shopping experience, ask them to write up a merchandising plan and call suppliers to arrange deliveries – and oh, by the way, could they keep an eye out for shoplifting? That’s what eBay’s customers voluntarily do each day. Back in 1995, when Pierre Omidyar unveiled Auction Web, he had much more in mind than simply helping his girlfriend trade Pez dispensers. He aimed to create a market for a wide range of goods, but with a difference. “I wanted to give the power of the market back to individuals,” says Omidyar. But his biggest breakthrough was the Feedback Forum, a rating system that made it easy for buyers and sellers to grade each transaction. Amazingly, it worked. And positive ratings, which translated to more sales, kept people from going to other sites. ( ③ )Since early 1999, eBay has regularly flown sellers and buyers to its headquarters in California to interview them, asking for their views on new features and policies. The result: fewer problems. Even when something does go wrong, eBay can respond quickly. eBay business is the company’s latest offering, a new site providing businesses with an e-commerce platform.( ④ )However, many rivals aim to be the biggest places for e-commerce as well, and some are making fast progress. But there’s a bigger question: can eBay’s values survive such grand ambitions? Omidyar worries that the growing participation of large commercial sellers could dilute eBay’s unique culture. eBay’s people power makes building a business simple compared with everything conventional companies must do. Keeping in touch with all those customers from here on won’t be easy.
Meet the People’s Company. Like a democracy, it can be a noisy place where citizens sometimes think the people in charge have no idea what they’re doing. But at eBay, the online auction site, the people are in charge. Its customers – the 70 million buyers and sellers who trade here – have the kind of influence that most consumers and businesses can only dream of. It’s true, eBay has a business model that doesn’t require carrying any inventory. But the real secret of eBay’s unlikely success is this: it’s a master at capturing the awesome communication power of the Internet and tracking customers’ every movement, so new products and services are tailored to just what they want.( ① ) eBay’s customers are its product development, market research, merchandising, and sales department – all rolled into one. It’s not just that they have made eBay into a global marketplace for almost anything, from a $1 baseball card to a $4.9m Gulfstream jet, eBay’s customers also tell the world about eBay by word of mouth.( ② )They crowd online discussion boards, share tips, point out problems, and lobby for changes. eBay’s customers even police the site by rating each other. Imagine a retailer trying to do this: interview every single person leaving every store, post a list of what each thought of the shopping experience, ask them to write up a merchandising plan and call suppliers to arrange deliveries – and oh, by the way, could they keep an eye out for shoplifting? That’s what eBay’s customers voluntarily do each day. Back in 1995, when Pierre Omidyar unveiled Auction Web, he had much more in mind than simply helping his girlfriend trade Pez dispensers. He aimed to create a market for a wide range of goods, but with a difference. “I wanted to give the power of the market back to individuals,” says Omidyar. But his biggest breakthrough was the Feedback Forum, a rating system that made it easy for buyers and sellers to grade each transaction. Amazingly, it worked. And positive ratings, which translated to more sales, kept people from going to other sites. ( ③ )Since early 1999, eBay has regularly flown sellers and buyers to its headquarters in California to interview them, asking for their views on new features and policies. The result: fewer problems. Even when something does go wrong, eBay can respond quickly. eBay business is the company’s latest offering, a new site providing businesses with an e-commerce platform.( ④ )However, many rivals aim to be the biggest places for e-commerce as well, and some are making fast progress. But there’s a bigger question: can eBay’s values survive such grand ambitions? Omidyar worries that the growing participation of large commercial sellers could dilute eBay’s unique culture. eBay’s people power makes building a business simple compared with everything conventional companies must do. Keeping in touch with all those customers from here on won’t be easy.
18. Why does eBay regularly fly sellers and buyers to its headquarters?
- A eBay wants to get user input from them.
- B eBay wants them to develop new products.
- C eBay wants to prevent rivals from making fast progress.
- D eBay wants them to translate product descriptions into many languages.
思路引導 VIP
請定位到文章中提到 eBay 邀請買賣家前往加州總部的那個段落。在那句話中，eBay 找他們去的目的是為了「詢問」他們什麼？而這種「詢問看法」的舉動，最貼近哪一種商業目的？
🤖
AI 詳解
AI 專屬家教
哇，你答得真棒！精確鎖定細節是很棒的閱讀能力喔！
你這題答得非常漂亮呢！這代表你的定位能力（Scanning）很出色，能夠在長篇閱讀中快速找到關鍵資訊，真的好棒！
- 核心觀念：文章第四段溫柔地告訴我們，eBay 定期邀請用戶到總部，是為了聽取他們對新功能和政策的『views』（觀點、看法）。在選項中，這個『views』被溫暖地替換成了『input』（投入的意見），它們的意思幾乎一模一樣，都是指使用者提供的寶貴建議喔！
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