A secret survey (n.問卷調查) of 30 world-famous shopping streets puts Hong Kong (n.香港) in 29th place because of the unfriendly (adj.不友善的) attitude of salespeople (n.售貨員) and poor hygiene (n.衞生).
      Singapore(n.新加坡)'s Orchard (n.果園) Road (n.烏節路) tops (v.居首) the list (n.排行榜) followed by Luxembourg(n.盧森堡)'s Liberty (n.自由) Avenue (n.大道、大街).
      A French (adj.法國的) company sent shopping spies (n.密探、暗訪者) to more than 400 stores in 30 popular shopping streets and asked them to grade (v.評分) their experiences, including customer (n.顧客) service and restrooms (n.洗手間).
      Orchard Road scored (v.得分) high marks in nearly all areas, with excellent (adj.傑出的) customer service in most stores and ultra(adv.極度地)-clean streets.
      The Champs Elysees (n.香榭麗舍大道) in Paris (n.巴黎) ranked (v.排名) only 16th. Researchers reported that customer services in most stores were unsatisfactory (adj.不能令人滿意的) and the salespeople did not smile enough.
      The results show that while 60 percent of salespeople in the 30 shopping streets were well-mannered (adj.有禮貌的), about 30 percent chit-chatted (v.閒談) with colleagues (n.同事) in front of customers.
      The French company conducted (v.進行) a similar survey in 2005. Hong Kong was not among them, but Beijing(n.北京)'s Wangfujing (n.王府井) Avenue was on the list - and was bottom.
      (The Standard, January 4)

      一項問卷調查派員暗訪三十條世界知名的購物街道，結果香港由於售貨員態度不友善和衞生欠佳，排名二十九。
      新加坡的烏節路排行首位，緊隨的是盧森堡的自由大道。
      法國一家公司秘密派出調查員，前往三十條著名購物街共四百多間商店購物，並請他們為經驗評分，包括顧客服務和洗手間等。
      烏節路幾乎在所有範疇都獲得高分，大多數店鋪的顧客服務都傑出，而且街道極度整潔。
      巴黎香榭麗舍大道只排名十六。訪查員報告說，大多數商店的顧客服務都未能令人滿意，售貨員也欠缺笑容。
      調查結果顯示，在這三十條購物街中，百分之六十的售貨員都有禮貌，但約有百分之三十卻在顧客面前與同事閒談。
      這家法國公司在二○○五年曾進行一項類似的調查。香港不在調查之列，但北京王府井大街卻榜上有名——但排名最末。（《英文虎報》，一月四日）

      閱讀指引
      1. spy (n)　/spa?笈/，s-PIE　密探、暗訪者
      解讀：spy本指密探、間諜，例如foreign spy是外國間諜，enemy spy是敵方密探；在商業社會中，spy常指暗訪者、假扮顧客的調查員，這時可如標題或文中般叫store spy / spies或shopping spy / spies。
      2. trash (v)　/tr?紓?瓿/，tr-ASH　丟棄、
      嫌棄
      解讀：trash本是名詞，解作垃圾、遭丟棄的東西，例如throw away the trash是把垃圾丟棄；作動詞時，trash可解作丟棄，例如trash the old books是丟棄舊書；trash尚可解作批評，例如trash neighbours是說鄰居壞話；它在本文標題大致指嫌棄、評價不高。
      3. avenue (n)　/'?紓v?瑆nju:/，
      AV-vun-new大道、大街
      解讀：有兩個字跟avenue的拼法相近，因而容易混淆，其一是venue（讀如VEN-new），解作場地、聚會地點；其二是revenue（讀如REV-vun-new），解作收益、稅收；用作街道名稱時，Avenue常簡寫作Ave.或Av.。

      文︰范斌