Read the following four texts. Answer the questions after each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on the ANSWER SHEET.
Text 4
The personal grievance provisions of New Zealand’s Employment Relations Act 2000 (ERA) prevent an employer from firing an employee without good cause. Instead, dismissals must be justified. Employers must both show cause and act in a procedurally fair way.
Personal grievance procedures were designed to guard the jobs of ordinary workers from “unjustified dismissals”. The premise was that the common law of contract lacked sufficient safeguards for workers against arbitrary conduct by management. Long gone are the days when a boss could simply give an employee contractual notice.
But these provisions create difficulties for businesses when applied to highly paid managers and executives. As countless boards and business owners will attest, constraining firms from firing poorly performing, high-earning managers is a handbrake on boosting productivity and overall performance. The difference between C-grade and A-grade managers may very well be the difference between business success or failure. Between preserving the jobs of ordinary workers or losing them. Yet mediocrity is no longer enough to justify a dismissal.
Consequently—and paradoxically—laws introduced to protect the jobs of ordinary workers may be placing those jobs at risk.
If not placing jobs at risk, to the extent employment protection laws constrain business owners from dismissing under-performing managers, those laws act as a constraint on firm productivity and therefore on workers’ wages. Indeed, in “An International Perspective on New Zealand’s Productivity Paradox” (2014), the Productivity Commission singled out the low quality of managerial capabilities as a cause of the country’s poor productivity growth record.
Nor are highly paid managers themselves immune from the harm caused by the ERA’s unjustified dismissal procedures. Because employment protection laws make it costlier to fire an employee, employers are more cautious about hiring new staff. This makes it harder for the marginal manager to gain employment. And firms pay staff less because firms carry the burden of the employment arrangement going wrong.
Society also suffers from excessive employment protections. Stringent job dismissal regulations adversely affect productivity growth and hamper both prosperity and overall well-being.
Across the Tasman Sea, Australia deals with the unjustified dismissal paradox by excluding employees earning above a specified “high-income threshold” from the protection of its unfair dismissal laws. In New Zealand, a 2016 private members’ Bill tried to permit firms and high-income employees to contract out of the unjustified dismissal regime. However, the mechanisms proposed were unwieldy and the Bill was voted down following the change in government later that year.
单选题
The personal grievance provisions of the ERA are intended to ______.
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】本题为细节题。根据题干关键词personal grievance和are intended to定位到第二段①句(其中are intended to对应were designed to)：Personal grievance procedures were designed to guard the jobs of ordinary workers from “unjustified dismissals”(个人申诉程序旨在保护普通员工免于遭受“不正当的解雇”)。D项protect the rights of ordinary workers(保护普通员工的权益)是对①句中guard the jobs of ordinary workers from “unjustified dismissals”的概括总结，其中guard对应protect，ordinary workers为原词复现。所以本题选D。
单选题
It can be learned from paragraph 3 that the provisions may ______.
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】本题为细节题。根据题干关键词Paragraph 3和provisions定位到第三段①句：But these provisions create difficulties for businesses when applied to highly paid managers and executives(但当这些规定适用于高薪经理和主管时，会给企业带来困难)，该句无法解题，需结合下文。第三段②句指出As countless boards and business owners will attest, constraining firms from firing poorly performing, high-earning managers is a handbrake on boosting productivity and overall performance(正如无数的董事会和企业主将证明的那样，限制企业解雇表现不佳的高薪经理，会阻碍企业提高生产率和整体业绩)，A项hinder business development(阻碍企业发展)是对①句中create difficulties for businesses和②句中a handbrake on boosting productivity and overall performance的概括总结。所以本题选A。
单选题
Which of the following measures would the Productivity Commission support?
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】本题为细节题。根据题干关键词the Productivity Commission定位到第五段②句：Indeed, in “An International Perspective on New Zealand’s Productivity Paradox” (2014), the Productivity Commission singled out the low quality of managerial capabilities as a cause of the country’s poor productivity growth record(事实上，在《关于新西兰生产率悖论的国际视角》中，生产力委员会指出，管理能力的低下是该国生产率增长记录不佳的一个原因)，由此可推知，生产力委员会可能会支持解雇表现不佳的经理，D项Dismissing poorly performing managers(解雇表现不佳的经理)是对②句内容的适度推断。所以本题选D。
单选题
What might be an effect of ERA’s unjustified dismissal procedures?
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】本题为细节题。根据题干关键词ERA’s unjustified dismissal procedures定位到第六段①句：Nor are highly paid managers themselves immune from the harm caused by the ERA’s unjustified dismissal procedures(高薪经理自身也无法免受雇佣关系法中不正当解雇程序所造成的伤害)。该句无法解题，需继续看下文。②③句进一步解释①句，阐述不正当解雇程序对经理的不利影响。④句And之后补充解释不正当解雇程序对于员工的影响，即firms pay staff less because firms carry the burden of the employment arrangement going wrong(企业支付给员工更少的工资，因为企业承担了雇佣安排出差错的责任)，B项Employees suffer from salary cuts(员工被降薪)是对④句中firms pay staff less的同义替换。所以本题选B。
单选题
It can be inferred that the “high-income threshold” in Australia ______.
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】本题为细节题。根据题干关键词the “high-income threshold” in Australia定位到第八段①句：Australia deals with the unjustified dismissal paradox by excluding employees earning above a specified “high-income threshold” from the protection of its unfair dismissal laws(澳大利亚应对不正当解雇悖论的办法是，将收入超过特定“高收入门槛”的员工排除在该国不正当解雇法的保护范围之外)，该句无法解题，需继续看下文。第八段③句指出However, the mechanisms proposed were unwieldy and the Bill was voted down following the change in government later that year(然而，上述提出的机制太过复杂，难以实行，新西兰的法案也在当年晚些时候在政府换届后被投票否决)，D项is difficult to put into practice(难以付诸实施)是对③句中the mechanisms proposed were unwieldy的适度推断。所以本题选D。