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  3. For more than a decade, Dell has posted double-digit growth by selling computers directly to customers, most of them corporate c

For more than a decade, Dell has posted double-digit growth by selling computers directly to customers, most of them corporate c

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问题     For more than a decade, Dell has posted double-digit growth by selling computers directly to customers, most of them corporate clients. But two unfriendly trends have driven Dell to sell its computers at a place where chairman Michael Dell swore he would never be caught dead: a Dell retail store.
    【B16】_____________
    "We’re seeing more and more of our technology intersecting with home entertainment," says Ro Parra, a senior vice president of Dell’s home and small-business group. To attract gamesters and movie watchers, Dell has unveiled new models in its multimedia XPS line. The units range from a $3,500 desktop-notebook hybrid with a 20-in. screen and a remote, to a $2,270 gaming desktop with a swanky scarlet-and-gray exterior and high-end specs. Parra says Dell’s stores give consumers a chance to see its multimedia PCs and laptops in a home environment, paired with some of Dell’s other consumer goods like its flat-screen TV sets. The company expects to open more stores in the fall.
    The second reason for Dell to go retail is more prosaic.  For years,  Dell’s direct-shipment model
    proved especially good for selling to businesses, which generate 80% of its sales.【B17】___________________So everyday shoppers are powering the industry’s growth. The consumer market grew at twice the pace of the enterprise market last year, according to technology-research firm IDC.
    Many of the challenges facing Dell seem to spring from the very innovations that made it a power force. By selling direct, Dell keeps a lid on overhead and offers customized computers at competitive prices, with relatively swift delivery. As the price of computing dropped, Dell was consistently able to shed costs and maintain a price advantage over rivals.  But this year Dell’s competitors have attacked that price gap.【B18】________________Retailers have also cut prices, even selling at cost and relying on upgrades and services for profits.
    One possibility that doesn’t exist is the ability to walk out of the store with a computer. The new stores won’t carry inventory, so consumers will have to wait a few days for delivery.【B19】________________ Even as the company speeds up its retail operation, Dell CEO Kevin Rollins still downplays the significance of the home market, saying "It’s a secondary priority compared to our corporate customers." And he argues that the move is really an expansion of the small booths that Dell has set up in malls to allow customers to place orders. Says Parra: "We have 160 booths that have been very successful, and all we are doing is expanding on that success."
    【B20】_____________________
    Dell is retraining its customer-support staff and offering a new service called Dell Direct, which allows a technician to connect to a customer’s computer to root out problems. That’s partly in response to harsh criticism after the company didn’t initially beef up customer support as business grew, leading to 30-min. waits to talk to a phone representative.
    Last year Dell also announced it would hire 1,500 more call-center workers. "What I am most excited about is the investment in customer support," says Rollins. "It allows consumers who are not on a network directly, to connect with us the same way a big corporate client would."
    [A]   HP slashed thousands of jobs and reduced the number of assembly plants, streamlining its supply chain and enabling it to go head to head with Dell on low-end machines.
    [B]  The stores are part of a bigger program to make the company more user-friendly.
    [C]  That lowers operating costs, but Vitelli, senior vice president of consumer electronics, says the impatience of the gotta-have-it-now mall shopper is not on Dell’s side: "Are you going to go to the restaurant, look at the menu and say,  ’That’s great. Send me the meal in 10 days’?"
    [D]  But the business market is becoming more commoditized, and prices are in a free fall. On the other hand, the sale to individual customers has grown rapidly.
    [E]  Dell CEO Kevin Rollins considers the home market as its second priority because it generates less profit.
    [F]  The first trend is the ever popular commingling of computing and entertainment in your living room. Yet Dell lives at the office.
    [G]  The company is very confident that its retail stores will expand rapidly in the next few years.
【B17】
选项
答案D
解析 空格前讲到戴尔的直销模式(direct-shipment model)很适合销往企业客户，而空格后则提到消费者市场的增长(consumer market grew)，因此可以推测空格处应为转折，将论述的对象转到消费者市场上去，说明戴尔的直销模式在如今的消费市场并不占优势。选项中表明与上文转折关系的只有D，其中But，转折文意，指出目前企业市场的相对低迷。the business market对应了空格前的selling to businesses。同时，D中的On the other hand使文章进入对消费者市场的讨论，而sale to individual customers has grown则与空格后的everyday shoppers和The consumer market对应。故答案选D。
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