在这篇文章中，我们挑选了一篇考试阅读部分的Reading & Writing: Fill in the blanks的真题，带着大家一起来精读一下这篇考试的真题，解析一下其中的词汇的使用以及搭配。
Drive down any highway, and you’ll see a perforation of chain restaurants — most likely, if you travel long and far enough, you’ll see McDonald’s golden arches as well as signs for Burger King, Hardee’s and Wendy’s, the “big four” of burgers.
perforation这个词在这里的使用类似于比喻的手法, perforation本身是指a line of small holes for tearing at a particular place，主要是为了折合成型或用于沿线撕开。这里用比喻的手法，指的是沿公路的一连串的餐厅。
Chain Restaurant 指连锁餐饮业。
Despite its name, though, Burger King has fallen short of claiming the burger crown, unable to surpass market leader MacDonald’s No.1 sales status. Always the bridesmaid and never the bride, Burger King remains No.2.
fall short of …: 表示fail to reach an amount of standard that was expected or hoped for，以此来表示并没有达到所期望的成为burger crown的目标。
Always the bridesmaid and never the bride: 以一个形象的方式表达永远成为不了第一。
Worse yet, Burger King has experienced a six-year 22% decline in customer traffic with its overall quality rating dropping while ratings for the other three contenders have increased. The decline has been attributed to inconsistent product quality and poor customer service.
Customer traffic 表示顾客的人流量，直观的就是表示入店的人头数量。
Contender表示someone who competes with other people to try to win something，在这篇文章中指的就是除去Burger King以外的另外三家竞争者。
Although the chain tends to throw advertising dollars at the problem, an understanding of integrated Marketing Communications theory would suggest that internal management problems (19 CEOs in 15 years) need to be rectified before a unified, long-term strategy can be put in place.
Be attributed to表示问题归结于…
Throw dollars at表示向什么砸钱的意思，学术一点地说，就是向什么投钱，关注一下搭配的“at”的介词用法。
The importance of consistency in brand image and messages, not all levels of communication, has become a basic tenet of IMC theory and practice. The person who takes the customer’s order must communicate the same message. A Burger King’s famous tagline, “have it your way,” or customer will just buzz up the highway to a chain restaurant that seems more consistent and therefore, more reliable.
Rectify 指to correct something that is wrong，矫正更正的意思。
Consistency这里的consistency也呼应到了前面写到的inconsistent product quality这个点。
Tenet指a belief or idea that is held in common by members in an organization，就是原则，信条的意思，把产品品质的一致性作为公司的基本原则。
Buzz up 在这个语境环境下，表示very excited，表示顾客会非常激动，期待于开到连锁餐厅店获得一致的服务。这个需要结合着语境理解一下。
墨尔本文波PTE Grace老师
