🎯 考研英语（二）真题精析 · Text 1
小费文化变局：从自愿感谢到强制负担
编者按：亲爱的考研小伙伴们，欢迎来到【考研英语真题精解】栏目。今天我们要精析的是2025年考研英语（二）阅读理解Text 1，探讨一个与我们生活息息相关的话题——美国小费文化的变化。从过去的“自愿感谢”到如今的“强制负担”，小费背后折射出技术、心理与经济的复杂互动。让我们一起在真题中积累词汇、攻克长难句、掌握解题技巧吧！✍️
📖 真题原文
Text 1
U.S. customers historically tipped people they assumed were earning most of their income via tips, such as restaurant servers earning less than the minimum wage. In the early 2010s, a wide range of businesses started processing purchases with iPads and other digital payment systems. These systems often prompted customers to tip for services that were not previously tipped.
Today's tip requests are often not connected to the salary and service norms that used to determine when and how people tip. Customers in the past nearly always paid tips after receiving a service, such as at the conclusion of a restaurant meal, after getting a haircut or once a pizza was delivered. That timing could reward high-quality service and give workers an incentive to provide it.
It's becoming more common for tips to be requested beforehand. And new tipping technology may even automatically add tips.
The prevalence of digital payment devices has made it easier to ask customers for a tip. That helps explain why tip requests are creeping into new kinds of services. Customers now routinely see menus of suggested default options—often well above 20% of what they owe. The amounts have risen from 10% or less in the 1950s to 15% around the year 2000 to 20% or higher today. This increase is sometimes called tipflation—the expectation of ever-higher tip amounts.
Tipping has always been a vital source of income for workers in historically tipped services, like restaurants, where the tipped minimum wage can be as low as US$2.13 an hour. Tip creep and tipflation are now further supplementing the income of many low-wage service workers.
Notably, tipping primarily benefits some of these workers, such as waiters, but not others, such as cooks and dishwashers. To ensure that all employees were paid fair wages, some restaurants banned tipping and increased prices, but this movement toward no-tipping services has largely fizzled out.
So, to increase employee wages without raising prices, more employers are succumbing to the temptations of tip creep and tipflation. However, many customers are frustrated because they feel they are being asked for too high of a tip, too often. And, as our research emphasizes, tipping now seems to be more coercive, less generous and often completely disassociated from service quality.
📝 真题题目
21. According to Paragraph 1, the practice of tipping in the U.S. ______.
A. was regarded as a sign of generosity
B. was considered essential for waiters
C. was a way of rewarding diligence
D. was optional in most businesses
22. Compared with tips in the past, today's tips ______.
A. are paid much less frequently
B. are less often requested in advance
C. have less to do with service quality
D. contribute less to workers' income
23. Tip requests are creeping into new kinds of services as a result of ______.
A. the advancement of technology
B. the desire for income increase
C. the diversification of business
D. the emergence of tipflation
24. The movement toward no-tipping services was intended to ______.
A. promote consumption
B. enrich income sources
C. maintain reasonable prices
D. guarantee income fairness
25. It can be learned from the last paragraph that tipping ______.
A. is becoming a burden for customers
B. helps encourage quality service
C. is vital to business development
D. reflects the need to reduce prices
________________________________________
🔍 文章脉络梳理
段落 主题 核心内容
Para 1 历史惯例 小费曾是低收入服务员的主要收入来源
Para 2 传统功能 服务后支付，奖励高质量服务
Para 3 新变化 提前索要小费、自动加小费
Para 4 技术推动 数字支付普及 → 小费蔓延 → tipflation
Para 5 工人视角 小费仍是低薪工人重要收入来源
Para 6 公平尝试 禁小费提价运动大多失败
Para 7 顾客视角 小费过高过频、与服务质量脱钩
🎯 答案解析（逐项精析）
21. According to Paragraph 1, the practice of tipping in the U.S. ______.
正确答案：B
定位原文（Para 1）：
U.S. customers historically tipped people they assumed were earning most of their income via tips, such as restaurant servers earning less than the minimum wage.
选项分析：
选项 内容 判断 理由
A was regarded as a sign of generosity ❌ 原文未提及“慷慨的象征”
B was considered essential for waiters ✅ 服务员收入主要来自小费，是“essential”
C was a way of rewarding diligence ❌ “rewarding diligence”在第2段，不在第1段
D was optional in most businesses ❌ 与事实相反，小费是惯例
解题关键：题干明确要求“According to Paragraph 1”，C选项内容虽在文中出现，但位置不符，属典型“跨段干扰”。
22. Compared with tips in the past, today's tips ______.
正确答案：C
定位原文（Para 2 & Para 7）：
That timing could reward high-quality service...
tipping now seems to be... often completely disassociated from service quality.
选项分析：
A are paid much less frequently ❌ 实际更频繁（新服务类型加入）
B are less often requested in advance ❌ 实际更多提前索要（Para 3）
C have less to do with service quality ✅ 原文明确“disassociated from service quality”
D contribute less to workers' income ❌ Para 5说仍是重要收入来源
解题关键：注意第7段的“disassociated from service quality”与第2段“reward high-quality service”形成鲜明对比，直接对应C选项。
23. Tip requests are creeping into new kinds of services as a result of ______.
正确答案：A
The prevalence of digital payment devices has made it easier to ask customers for a tip. That helps explain why tip requests are creeping into new kinds of services.
选项分析：
A the advancement of technology ✅ 数字支付设备普及是直接原因
B the desire for income increase ❌ 动机层面，不是题干问的直接原因
C the diversification of business ❌ 原文未提及业务多元化
D the emergence of tipflation ❌ tipflation是结果/现象，不是原因
解题关键：题干问“as a result of”（直接原因），原文“That helps explain...”中的“That”指代上一句的“数字支付设备普及”，因果关系清晰。
24. The movement toward no-tipping services was intended to ______.
正确答案：D
To ensure that all employees were paid fair wages, some restaurants banned tipping and increased prices...
选项分析：
A promote consumption ❌ 未提及促进消费
B enrich income sources ❌ 未提及丰富收入来源
C maintain reasonable prices ❌ 实际是提价，不是维持合理价格
D guarantee income fairness ✅ 确保所有员工获得公平工资
解题关键：原文“To ensure that all employees were paid fair wages”是目的状语，直接对应D选项的“guarantee income fairness”。
25. It can be learned from the last paragraph that tipping ______.
正确答案：A
many customers are frustrated because they feel they are being asked for too high of a tip, too often.
选项分析：
A is becoming a burden for customers ✅ “too high, too often” → 负担
B helps encourage quality service ❌ 与“disassociated from service quality”矛盾
C is vital to business development ❌ 未提及对商业发展至关重要
D reflects the need to reduce prices ❌ 未提及降价需求
解题关键：最后一段从顾客视角描述感受——“被要求太高、太频繁的小费”，直接体现“burden”。
📚 考研生词难词汇总
单词/短语 词性 意思 原文例句
beforehand adv. 预先、事先 tips to be requested beforehand
prevalence n. 流行、普遍 The prevalence of digital payment devices
creep into v. phr. 悄悄蔓延到 requests are creeping into new services
tipflation n. 小费通胀 This increase is called tipflation
notably adv. 值得注意的是 Notably, tipping primarily benefits waiters
fizzle out v. phr. 逐渐失败、不了了之 movement has largely fizzled out
succumb to v. 屈服于 succumbing to the temptations
coercive adj. 强制性的 more coercive, less generous
disassociated from v. phr. 与…脱钩 disassociated from service quality
________________________________________
📐 考研长难句翻译
U.S. customers historically tipped people they assumed were earning most of their income via tips, such as restaurant servers earning less than the minimum wage.
翻译：美国顾客历史上会给那些他们认为是主要靠小费获得收入的人小费，比如那些收入低于最低工资的餐厅服务员。
Customers now routinely see menus of suggested default options—often well above 20% of what they owe.
翻译：顾客现在 routinely 看到建议的默认选项菜单——通常远高于他们应付金额的20%。
And, as our research emphasizes, tipping now seems to be more coercive, less generous and often completely disassociated from service quality.
翻译：而且，正如我们的研究强调的那样，现在的小费似乎更具强制性，更少慷慨意味，且常常完全与服务质量脱钩。
🌟 阅读技巧点拨
1. 定位要精准：21题C选项内容正确但位置错误，这类“跨段干扰”是考研阅读常见陷阱。
2. 因果关系别颠倒：23题中，技术普及是原因，tipflation是结果，选项D是典型的“因果倒置”。
3. 关注转折与结论：第7段的“however”引出顾客感受，往往是出题点。
4. 同义替换识别：24题“fair wages” = “income fairness”，是考研阅读最常见的同义替换。
下期预告：Text 2 —— 英国NHS医疗系统危机与改革之路
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