Some pioneering work that began as an attempt to discover ways to increase production efficiency led to the founding of the human relations movement in industry and to the development of motivational skills and tools for managers. In 1927 researchers were involved in determining the optimumamount of lighting, temperature, and humidity (with lighting being considered the most important) for the assembly of electronic components at Western Electric. The researchers found that lighting had no consistent effect on production. In fact, production sometimes increased when lighting was reduced to the level of ordinary moonlight! The important part of this experiment began when two Harvard researchers, Elton Mayo and Fritz Roethlisberger, were brought in to investigate these unexpected results further. They found that workers were responding not to the level of lighting but to the fact that they were being observed by the experimenters.
This phenomenon came to be known as the Hawthorne effect since the experiments were conducted at the Western Electric Hawthorne Plant. This was the first documented and widely published evidence of the psychological effects on doing work, anditled to the first serious effort aimed at examining psychological and social factors in the workplace. Further experiments were continued for five years. Generally, the researchers concluded from their experiments that economic motivation (pay) was not the sole source of productivity and, in some cases, not even the most important source. Through interviews and test results, the researchers focused on the effects of work attitudes, supervision, and the peer group and other social forces, on productivity.
Their findings laid the groundwork for modem motivation theory, and the study of human factors on the job, which continues to this day in such common practices as selection and training, establishing favorable work conditions, counseling, and personnel operations. The contributions of this experiment shifted the focus of human motivation from economics to a multifacetedapproach including psychological and social forces.
What is the passage primarily about?
本题是主旨题。文章第一段一开始就提到了：始于一种试图去发现一些提高生产效率的开创性工作导致了产业中人类关系运动的建立以及管理者的激励技巧和手段的提高。接下来介绍了试验和研究及其研究结果。本文主要介绍了Elton Mayo和Fritz Roethlisberger这两个来自于哈佛大学的研究人员在the Western Electric Hawthorne Plant所做的试验及由此产生的the Hawthorne effect(霍桑效应)和此试验所作出的贡献。因此答案为选项D。
The word “optimum” underlined in Paragraph 1 means______.
本题是词义题。此句表达的是：1927年研究人员为西电气公司决定电子配件流水线的最佳的照明、温度和湿度(当时认为照明是最为重要的)；此处“optimum”意为“最佳的、最适宜的”，答案为选项C。
The most significant finding of the original research was __________.
本题是细节题。参考上题的解析可知，研究开始时认为照明是最重要的，可是“The researchers found that lighting had no consistent effect on production”，即是研究人员却发现照明没有对生产产生一致的作用，因此答案为A。
Why does the author say that the important part of this research began when two Harvard researchers were brought in?
本题是推断题。第一段最后两句提到：当Elton Mayo and Fritz Roethlisberger这两个来自哈佛的研究人员参与进来进一步研究这些没有预料的结果时，他们发现了这一试验的重要部分，即工人们对照明水平没有什么反应，却对被实施研究者的观察产生很大的反应。这个发现推翻了原有的“照明是最重要的”的假设，而带来了后面所说的“霍桑效应”这个新发现，所以作者认为这两个人的参与使得这一研究进行了多方面研究，而不是局限在原来设想的照明、温度、湿度等方面；因此B为答案。
The research became known as the “Hawthorne effect” because
本题是细节题。第二段第一句提到：因为这一实验是在西电气公司的霍桑工厂进行的，所以这一现象逐渐被人们称之为“霍桑效应”。所以A为答案。
The word “it” underlined in Paragraph 2 refers to __________.
本题是词义题。此处的“it”指的就是前面所提到的“霍桑效应”。句意：这是第一次被记录下来且被广泛引用的在工作中的影响心理作用的依据；它导致了第一次旨在调查工作场所中心理和社会因素影响的认真研究。所以，D为答案。
Part of the reason for the change in focus from economics to a more multifaceted approach to the psychological effects on doing work was __________.
本题是推断题。第二段倒数第二句提到：总体上，研究人员从他们的试验中总结出经济上的激励(薪水)不是生产力的唯一源泉；在某些情况下，甚至不是最重要的源泉。由此可推断出人们关注的重点已经不是经济方面，而是工作时的心理影响等更多方面，所以答案为B。
According to the passage, it can be concluded that a “multifaceted approach” to human motivation in the workplace to __________.
本题是推断题。参考上题的解析，可知更大限度地提高生产力是在工作场所采取各种方法来调动人们的积极性的目的，所以答案为B。
The word “multifaceted” underlined in Paragraph 3 means __________.
本题是词义题。这句话表达的是：这项实验的贡献是将人力激发的关注焦点从经济转向了……的方法，这其中包括心理和社会因素的途径。此处“multifaceted”是指不再限制于以往的经济上的途径而是包括心理和社会因素等多方面的途径；所以C为答案。
Which of the following is NOT true about the Hawthorne study?
本题是是非题。第二段第二句提到选项A的内容、第二段第三句提到选项B的内容、第三段最后一句提到选项D的内容，这三项都是涉及霍桑效应的内容，只有选项C在文中没有提及，因此答案为C。