10 . Whenever we are planning to buy something online, most of us prefer to look at the reviews first. We imagine that they have been left by shoppers like us who want to share their knowledge with others, so the reviews would be of great value to us. 1 Some of them are writing positive review s in return for a payment or gifts from the maker. How do we know this?
A careful study of thousands of reviews on a popular shopping website showed that a surprisingly large number of reviewers gave either four-or five-star ratings to the product. Two-or three-star ratings both accounted for less than ten percent of the total, which looked suspicious (可疑的). 2 Not everything being sold on the shopping website could be first class! We all know that some false information is provided. Some products that you buy on shopping website can be terrible. You would expect therefore to see a variety of scores. 3
It seems that anyone who writes a large number of good review s is given a special treat by the shopping website. 4 How should a shopper reply to all these “wonderful” reviews? The best thing to do is to have access to a website run by some organizations such as Which in the UK. The Which product evaluation is based on strict tests carried out by experts and then on reviews by trusted shoppers who are Which members. They are not allowed to take free gifts from makers.
5 So, a good and responsible organization seems to be the best answer.
| A．So why are most reviews positive? |
| B．Reviews differ from person to person. |
| C．However, not all reviewers are like this. |
| D．So how can we tell true review s from false ones? |
| E．These “top” reviewers are then given free products. |
| F．Shoppers need protection from misleading reviews. |
| G．If those reviews were true, a broader spread of ratings would be given. |
