单选题
In Jonathan Swift's 1726 novel, "Gulliver's Travels", the
Yahoos are a degraded band of humanoids kept tied in stalls by their captors. It
is therefore appropriate that a recent, widely leaked memo from Yahoo's
human-resources manager, Jackie Reses, began with the toe-curling salutation
with which managers at the company normally address underlings:
"Yahoos". "We can all feel the energy and buzz in our offices,"
the memo went on. Presumably, though, while some Yahoos are feeling it, others
are hanging around at home in their pajamas, for the memo went onto say that
from June all Yahoos will be required to turn up in the office unless they have
a good excuse. "The best is yet to come," the memo ended—a claim which may sound
implausible to the employees of a company whose market capitalisation has fallen
from $125 billion in 2000 to $25 billion now. It is
understandable that Marissa Mayer, Yahoo's recently appointed chief executive,
should want to extract some more value from the employees she leads. Google's
workers each generate $931,657 revenue, 160% more than the $353, 657 produced by
each of Yahoo's employees. And it is also reasonable for a company to want to
discourage its employees from behaving like freelances. After all, firms exist
largely because people are more productive together than apart.
But tying the Yahoos to their stalls in the company's offices does not seem like
the right way to go about boosting their output. Plenty of evidence suggests
that letting employees work from home is good for productivity. It allows them
to use their time more efficiently and to spend more time with their families
and less fuming in traffic jams or squashed on trains. It can reduce companies'
costs. Cisco claimed in 2009 that it was saving $277m a year by allowing its
people to telecommute. A study by researchers at Stanford and Beijing
Universities of a large Chinese travel company compared the performance of
employees allowed to work from home with those who were stuck in the office:
among the home-workers, job satisfaction rose, staff turnover fell by half and
productivity went up by 13%. Hardly surprising, since a lot of people don't seem
to work while they are at work: last year J.C. Penney, an American retailer,
discovered that a third of its headquarters's bandwidth was taken up by
employees watching YouTube videos.
单选题
The novel "Gulliver's Travels" is mentioned to ______.
【答案解析】[解析] 语义题。
选项与原文对比。最简单的思路是把短语一个个代入文章背景，看是否合适。把A代入后构成get up in the office(在办公室起来)，意思显然没有逻辑，故错误。把B代入后构成stay up in the office(在办公室熬夜)，显然也不符合逻辑。把C代入后构成show up in the office(出现在办公室)，合理。把D代入后构成take up in the office(在办公室拿起；占据办公室)，也没有C贴切，故C为答案。
单选题
The third paragraph shows us that ______.
A.Google's employees are less productive than Yahoo's
B.people become less productive when they are separated
C.it is reasonable for a company to encourage its employees to behave
freely
D.Marissa Mayer wants to share more value with the employees she
leads
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】[解析] 推理题。
选项与原文对比。A根据Google，Yahoo定位到第二句：Google's workers each generate $931,657 revenue, 160% more than the $353,657 produced by each of Yahoo's employees.我们看到的是Google比起Yahoo是more than(超过)，而非选项的less productive，故A选项错误。B最后一句：After all, firms exist largely because people are more productive together than apart.根据该句观点，人们在一起时更有生产力，即分开时更没有生产力，故该选项正确。只是把原文正话反说。C第三句：And it is also reasonable for a company to want to discourage its employees from behaving like freelances.该选项和原文第三句几乎一样，仔细一看替换了一个关键词，即原文的discourage被改为encourage，黑白颠倒，故错误。D根据Marissa Mayer定位到首句：It is understandable that Marissa Mayer, Yahoo's recently appointed chief executive, should want to extract some more value from the employees she leads.原文说的是她想extract more value(榨取更多价值)，而非选项所说的share more value，故错误。
单选题
What can be concluded from the last paragraph?
A.Confining the employees in the office can promote their output.
B.Working at home is advantageous for boosting productivity.
C.Working in the office can reduce the company's costs.
D.Staying at home makes people work less efficiently.
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】[解析] 推理题。
选项与原文对比。A定位到第一句：But tying the Yahoos to their stalls in the company's offices does not seem like the right way to go about boosting their output.其中confining the employees in the office=tying the Yahoos to their stalls in the company's offices；promote their output=boosting their output；关键是does not seem like the right way，这是否定词，而A说can肯定，故该选项错误。B定位到第二句：Plenty of evidence suggests that letting employees work from home is good for productivity.其中is advantageous for boosting productivity=is good for productivity。B选项是对原文的同义替换，故正确。C定位到第四句：It can reduce companies' costs.其中it的指代内容很关键，it与第三句It allows them to use...中的it指代同一个内容，即上一句的letting employees work from home(在家工作可以降低成本)，而非该选项说的在办公室工作降低成本。D定位到第二、三句：...work from home is good for productivity. It allows them to use their time more efficiently...由此可见，在家工作效率更高而非更低。
单选题
The author's attitude towards working at home seems to be ______.
A.biased
B.indifferent
C.impartial
D.favourable
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】[解析] 观点态度题。
观点态度题需要注意文章的：转折处、虚拟情态处和中心句。第四段首句及第二句提到：But tying the Yahoos to their stalls in the company's offices does not seem like the right way to go about boosting their output. Plenty of evidence suggests that letting employees work from home is good for productivity.可见作者对于在家工作是赞成的。故D为答案。