In Jonathan Swift"s 1726 novel, "Gulliver"s Travels" , the Yahoos are a degraded band of hu-manoids 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 teleeommute. 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" bandwidth was taken up by employees watching YouTube videos.

单选题 The novel "Gulliver"s Travels" is mentioned to______.

单选题 We know from Paragraph 2 that______.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】解析：选项[A]对应该段第一、二句。该项的feel the busy atmosphere in their offices对应第一句中的feel the energy and buzz in our offices。然而下文指出:．．．while some Yahoos are feel—ing it，others…选项[A]中的most与原文中的some不符，故错误。选项[B]与原文第三行“unless they have a good excuse”不符，也是错误的。选项[C]对应该段最后一句：“The best isyet 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．其中thememo may sound irrational与原文the memo…may sound implausible相对应；irrational=implausible。故该项为答案。选项[D]中的“the shrink of Yahoo’s market value雅虎市场价值缩减”原文最后一句有提到，但并没有提到是谁的责任，故前半句“employees are to blame”是错误的。综上所述，本题答案为选项[C]。

单选题 The third paragraph shows us that______.

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】解析：根据选项[A]中的Google，Yahoo定位到该段第二句：Google’s workers each generate$931，657 revenue，160％more than the $353，657 produced by each of Yahoo’s employees．可见Google的员工比Yahoo的员工具有更高的生产力，故选项[A]错误。[B]项对应该段最后一句：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。选项[C]对应该段第三句：And it is also reasonable for a company to want to discourage itsemployees 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，故黑白颠倒，错误。根据[D]项中的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“提取更多价值”，而非选项所说的“分享更多价值”，故错误。综上所述，答案为选项[B]。

单选题 What can be concluded from the last paragraph?

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】解析：根据选项[A]定位到第一句：But tying the Yahoos to their stalls in the company’s of-fices does not seem like the right way to go about boosting their output．其中confining the employ—ees 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”表否定，与该项表述相反，故该选项错误。根据选项[B]定位到第二句：Plenty of evidence suggests that letting employees work fromhome is good for productivity．其中is advantageous for boosting productivity=is good for productivi—ty。故该项正确。根据选项[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，即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。故该项错误。根据选项[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。故选项[D]错误。综上所述，本题答案为选项[B]。