单选题 Ruth Simmons joined Goldman Sachs"s board as an outside director in January 2000; a year later she became president of Brown University. For the rest of the decade she apparently managed both roles without attracting much criticism. But by the end of 2009 Ms. Simmons was under fire for having sat on Goldman"s compensation committee; how could she have let those enormous bonus payouts pass unremarked? By February the next year Ms. Simmons had left the board. The position was taking up too much time, she said. Outside directors are supposed to serve as helpful, yet less biased, advisers on a firm"s board. Having made their wealth and their reputations elsewhere, they presumably have enough independence to disagree with the chief executive"s proposals. If the sky, and the share price, is falling, outside directors should be able to give advice based on having weathered their own crises. The researchers from Ohio University used a database that covered more than 10,000 firms and more than 64,000 different directors between 1989 and 2004. Then they simply checked which directors stayed from one proxy statement to the next. The most likely reason for departing a board was age, so the researchers concentrated on those "surprise" departure, the probability that the company will subsequently have to restate earnings increases by nearly 20%. The likelihood of being named in a federal class-action lawsuit also increases, and the stock is likely to perform worse. The effect tended to be larger for larger firms. Although a correlation between them leaving and subsequent bad performance at the firm is suggestive, it does not mean that such directors are always jumping off a sinking ship. Often they "trade up," leaving riskier, smaller firms for larger and more stable firms. But the researchers believe that outside directors have an easier time of avoiding a blow to their reputations if they leave a firm before bad news breaks, even if a review of history shows they were on the board at the time any wrongdoing occurred. Firms who want to keep their outside directors through tough time may have to create incentives. Otherwise outside directors will follow the example of Ms. Simmons, once again very popular on campus.

单选题 According to Paragraph 1, Ms. Simmons was criticized for______.

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】解析：本题信息点是Ms．Simmons was criticized(Simmons受到批评)，该信息出现在第一段第三句话…Simmons was under fire…中，其中under fire意为“受到攻击”，即“受到批评”之意。根据原因题的解题技巧，我们先看到本句中for having sat on Goldman’s compensation committee(在高盛薪酬委员会担任职务)是一个事实陈述；同时，分号“；”表明该句与下句为并列关系，从而我们知道下句how could she have let those enormous bonus payouts pass unremarked(她怎么能让那些巨额奖金支出得以通过而没有引起注意呢?)是她受到批评的原因。由此可见她作为薪酬委员会的成员未能阻止巨额奖金的发放，即：未能很好地履行其职责。所以选项B为本题答案。

单选题 We learn from Paragraph 2 that outside directors are supposed to be______.

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】解析：本题信息点是outside directors are supposed to be(独立董事应该)，在文章查找该信息点时我们会很容易注意到该信息点m现在第二段第一句话中：Outside directors are supposed to serve as helpful，yet less biased，advisers on a firm’s board．可以看出outside director 的身份是有帮助的、不带偏见的顾问。由此我们可以确定选项D符合本句语意，为本题答案。另外，如果本句理解有困难，我们再看下旬：Having made their wealth and their reputations elsewhere，they presumably have enough independence to disagree with the chief executive’s proposals(已经……，他们有足够的独立性否决首席执行官的动议)，由此可以确认outside directors的职责就是顾问。

单选题 According to the researchers from Ohio University, after an outside director"s surprise departure, the firm is likely to______.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】解析：本题信息点是atter an outside director’s surprise departure，the firm is likely to，在文章中查阅该信息，我们找到该信息点出现在文章第三段第三句：so the researchers concentrated on those“surprise”departure，the probability that the company will subsequently have to restate earnings increases by nearly 20％．The likelihood of being named in a federal class—action lawsuit also increases，and the stock is likely to perle}rm worse．The effect tended to be larger for larger firms。研读本句便可以理清outside director意外离开后有以下结果：1)重申盈利的可能性增加；2)被联邦集体诉讼的可能性增加；3)股市表现更差。由此可见选项C符合文章内容，为本题答案。本题B选项和D选项都有很强的干扰性，但是他们都犯了“偷换概念”的错误。

单选题 It can be inferred from the last paragraph that outside directors______.

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】解析：本题信息点是outside directors。我们来到文章最后一段，先逐句理解字面意思，然后整理各相关独立董事语句的信息，最后与本题的各选项对照，并做出选择。本文最后一段共三句话，都与outside director有关。第一句是outside directors have an easier time of avoiding a blow to their reputations if they leave a firm before bad news breaks，even if a review of history shows they were on the board at the time any wrongdoing occurred，大意为：通过提前离开，独立董事很容易规避声誉受损；第二句是Firms who want to keep their outside directors through tough time may have to create incentives，大意为：想留住独立董事的公司可能必须给他们激励：第三句话是Otherwise outside directors will follow the example of Ms．Simmons，once again very popular on campus，大意为：否则独立董事会像Simmons一样，又一次在大学受到欢迎。现在把以上三句话所陈述的内容与本题选项对照就会发现选项A符合第二句话的内容，为本题答案。