2020考研英語閱讀理解精讀100篇：Unit 43

Unit 43

DOTCOMS may be moribund, but inside companies, the Internet is still finding cost-saving new uses. “B2E—business-to-employee—didn’t have a crash,” says Bipin Patel, in charge of developing the potential of the corporate intranet at the Ford Motor Company. “It’s still growing.”

Ford has gone further than most companies to get its employees online: it offered its American employees personal computers, and 90% of them accepted. Ford hopes that the free PCs will save its own and its employees’ time by moving services online. General Motors, Ford’s great rival, considered a similar scheme but found that most employees willing to use PCs already had them. It is helping staff to pay for high-bandwidth connections instead.

At Ford, the human-resources department has pioneered a scheme to provide up-to-the-minute information to employees about pay and benefits. In the past, employees sometimes found that it took weeks to get a copy of the pay information they needed to do their tax returns, and the department’s staff spent mind-numbing hours answering the same questions from hundreds of different employees. Now employees can look at a password-protected site that displays their payslips over the previous 18 months. They can see all deductions, and the hours they worked. All this information was on the human-resources database: displaying it to employees has saved staff time.

“People want more and more of this self-service information, which they can manage themselves,” observes Mr Patel. “There is no such thing as information overload here, because it’s their information.” Even training seems to work better online: Ford employees can now download a range of courses, including one on “Listening and Handling Tough Situations”, all designed for digestion in 10- or 15-minute gobbets. The company claims to have cut training costs by $2m during the past six months, as fewer people leave their desks to learn.

The company also uses its intranet to communicate with its staff around the world. Jacques Nasser, Ford’s boss, sends out “Let’s chat” notes once a week. In fact, Mr Nasser does most of the chatting. He gets hundreds of e-mails in reply, but the communication is basically a one-way flow. The company also runs chatrooms, in which employees can question various inhouse experts and outside analysts live on the corporate intranet.

In time, thinks Mr Patel, communications technology will reshape corporate behaviour. It will encourage collaboration and team-working. Already, the Internet is causing disintermediation within companies, he argues, just as it did in e-commerce: the human-resources department does much less administration once the benefits system is more self-service, but rather more advising and consulting. One day, working in human resources might even be fun.

注（1）：本文選自Economist；

注（2）：本文習題命題模仿對象：2004年真題Text 1。（其中個別題目順序做了部分調整。）

1. How does the author introduce his topic?

A) Posing a contrast.

B) Justifying an assumption.

C) Explaining a phenomenon.

D) Making a comparison.

2. Why did Ford and GM intend to provide their employees with PCs?

A) PCs can help them save a lot.

B) B2E is a growing thing.

C) The employees prefer to use PCs.

D) Proving PCs is a way of competition.

3. Which of the following is NOT the advantage of Internet?

A) It can save time.

B) It can save cost.

C) It encourages collaboration and team-working.

D) It makes human-resources department an easy job.

4. The expression “a one-way flow”（Line 3, Paragraph 5）most probably means ______.

A) not encouraging open answers

B) only one side asking questions

C) only yes or no questions

D) the topics lacking variety

5. Which of the following is TRUE according to the text?

A) The Internet can help DOTCOMS come back to life.

B) The courses downloaded are practical, but time-consuming.

C) The Internet makes the work of human-resources department more direct and interesting.

D) The employees can manage all the information by themselves.

篇章剖析

本文介紹了某些公司借助國際互聯(lián)網(wǎng)提高公司效率、節(jié)省開支的情況。文章第一段指出電子商務形式B2E（“企業(yè)對職員”）仍然處于發(fā)展階段；第二段指出福特和通用公司類似的做法，希望電腦設施能為他們節(jié)省時間；第三段至第五段指出互聯(lián)網(wǎng)在福特公司的具體應用；最后一段指出互聯(lián)網(wǎng)對公司行為模式的影響。

詞匯注釋

moribund /?m?r?b?nd;(US)?n??r?-/ adj. 即將結束的，瀕臨死亡的，即將滅亡的

tax returns 納稅申報表

mind-numbing /?ma?nd?n?m??/ adj. 令人麻木的

payslip /?pe?sl?p/ n. 工資單

gobbet /?g?b?t/ n. 一片，一塊（尤指生肉）；一點，少量；片段，引文

disintermediation /d?s??nt?mi?d??e???n/ n. 不干預，脫媒（非中介化）（一般是指在進行交易時跳過所有中間人而直接在供需雙方間進行）

背景注釋

B2E即“企業(yè)對職員”，它強調的是職員，而不是客戶或者企業(yè)。B2E解決日益突出的IT人才短缺狀況。從某種程度上來說，它使企業(yè)調動一切可能的因素來吸引和挽留高素質的IT人才，比如：大膽的創(chuàng)新理念、優(yōu)厚的待遇、深造機會、靈活的上班時間、豐厚的獎金以及職員授權策略等。

難句突破

Already, the Internet is causing disintermediation within companies, he argues, just as it did in e-commerce: the human-resources department does much less administration once the benefits system is more self-service, but rather more advising and consulting.

主體句式：The Internet is causing disintermediation within companies.

結構分析：本句的主句是the Internet is causing disintermediation within companies，he argues是插入語，連詞as的意思是“如同，正如”，did指代的是cause disintermediation；冒號后的內容是對just as it did in e-commerce的解釋說明。

句子譯文：他論述說，正如電子商務中發(fā)生的脫媒現(xiàn)象一樣——一旦津貼制度變得更加自助化，人力資源部所做的行政管理方面的工作會少得多，他們更多的是提供建議和咨詢——互聯(lián)網(wǎng)也正在導致公司之間的脫媒（非中介化）現(xiàn)象。

題目分析

1. C 細節(jié)題。本文通過闡述一種現(xiàn)象來引入話題。

2. A 細節(jié)題。文章第一段指出網(wǎng)絡公司（DOTCOMS）也許即將滅亡，但是在公司內部，因特網(wǎng)仍然是節(jié)省成本的新辦法。第二段指出福特公司希望把一些服務性信息放到網(wǎng)上，能夠節(jié)省公司及其員工的時間，通用汽車公司也效仿這一做法。由此我們可以看出節(jié)約時間、節(jié)約開支是這兩個公司想要給其員工配備電腦的原因。

3. D 細節(jié)題。文章中提到“the human-resources department does much less administration once the benefits system is more self-service”，但這并不意味著人力資源部的工作會有所減輕，只是工作形式有所改變，人力資源部將把更多的工作重心放在建議和咨詢方面。

4. B 語義題。文章中提到多數(shù)情況下都是納賽爾先生在聊天。雖然他收到回復的電子郵件有幾百封，但基本上都是由他發(fā)問，別人來回答這種形式，因此這種交流是單向的。

5. C 細節(jié)題。原文對應信息是“One day, working in human resources might even be fun.”。選項A在文中對應的信息是“DOTCOMS may be moribund”；選項B對應的信息是“all designed for digestion in 10- or 15-minute gobbets”，它的意思是“所有這些課程的設計保證學員能在10至15分鐘內消化理解”；選項D對應的信息是“People want more and more of this self-service information, which they can manage themselves”，我們無法確定是否所有這些信息員工都能自行管理。

參考譯文

網(wǎng)絡公司（DOTCOMS）也許即將滅亡，但是在公司內部，互聯(lián)網(wǎng)仍然是節(jié)省成本的新辦法。“B2E（企業(yè)對職員）并沒有失敗?！备Ｌ仄嚬矩撠熼_發(fā)企業(yè)內部網(wǎng)潛力的拜平·帕特爾說，“相反，它仍然在發(fā)展?！?

在員工上網(wǎng)工程建設方面，福特比多數(shù)公司做得都要多：它給每個美國員工提供個人電腦，而90%的員工都接受了。福特把一些服務性信息放到網(wǎng)上，意在節(jié)省公司及其員工的時間。福特公司的主要競爭對手通用汽車公司也已考慮實施相似的計劃，但發(fā)現(xiàn)多數(shù)愿意使用個人電腦的員工已經(jīng)有了電腦。因此，它正在幫助職員支付高速寬帶連接費用。

在福特公司，人力資源部新制定了一項計劃，為員工提供有關薪水和津貼的最新信息。在過去，員工有時發(fā)現(xiàn)，他們要等上好幾個星期才能得到一張用于納稅的薪水信息的復印件，而人力資源部的職員卻不得不暈頭暈腦地花好幾個小時來回答幾百個不同員工提出的同一個問題?，F(xiàn)在，職員們可以在密碼保護的網(wǎng)站上查看他們過去18個月的工資單。他們可查看所有的扣除額和工作時間等信息。所有這些信息都放在人力資源部的數(shù)據(jù)庫里：公布這些信息節(jié)省了員工的時間。

“人們越來越多地需要這類自助信息，這些信息能夠幫助他們進行自我管理，”帕特爾先生說，“這里根本沒有所謂的信息超載一說，因為這是他們需要的信息?！痹诰€培訓的效果甚至更好：現(xiàn)在，福特的員工可以從網(wǎng)上下載系列課程，其中包括一個有關“傾聽和處理棘手情況”的課程。所有這些課程的設計保證學員能在10至15分鐘內消化理解。公司聲稱，在過去的半年里，培訓費用減少了200萬美元，因為幾乎沒有人丟下他們的工作去學習。

公司還用公司的內部網(wǎng)與世界各地的員工進行通信聯(lián)絡。福特公司的老板雅克·納賽爾每周發(fā)一個“讓我們聊天”的帖子。實際上，多數(shù)情況都是納賽爾先生在聊天。他收到回復的電子郵件有幾百封，但交流基本上是單向的。福特公司還經(jīng)營聊天室。員工們可在聊天室向在線做客的公司內部專家和公司外的分析人員提各種各樣的問題。

帕特爾認為，通信技術最終將再造公司的行為方式。它將鼓勵合作和團隊精神。他論述說，正如電子商務中發(fā)生的脫媒現(xiàn)象一樣——一旦津貼制度變得更加自助化，人力資源部所做的行政管理方面的工作會少得多，他們更多的是提供建議和咨詢——互聯(lián)網(wǎng)也正在導致公司之間的脫媒（非中介化）現(xiàn)象?？傆幸惶?，人力資源部的工作甚至會充滿樂趣。