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 unmarked? By February the next year Ms. Simmons had left the board. The position was just 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 hat 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" disappearances by directors under the age of 70. They found that after a surprise departrue, the probability that the company will subsequently have to restate earnings increased 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 times 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______.

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] 细节题。题干中的outside directors定位在第二段中3次，第一句和第三句中的outside directors直接出现，第二句中的they也是指代outside directors，因此需要分析每句中outside directors的具体内容。第一句中提到独立董事是在董事会中乐于助人的且较为公正的建议者。第二句中提到他们有足够的独立性来不同意CEO的建议。第三句中提到他们应该根据自己过去度过危机的经历而提出建议(当股票价格下跌时)。
[A]选项中的。investor在第二段根本没有提到这个概念，因此错误。
[B]选项中的unbiased对应第二段第一句中的yet less biased，但是独立董事是advisors而不是选项中的executives，因此错误。
[C]选项显然是望文生义，share price对应第二段第三句，该句中的weather作动词，意思是度过危机，而非选项中提到的预测股价。
[D]选项归纳了第一句和第二句的内容，第一句中提到独立董事是公正的建议者，第二句中提到了他们有独立性，两句结合的意思就是独立的建议者。

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

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】[解析] 细节题。题干中的researchers from Ohio University和after an outside director's surprise departrue定位在第三段第四句。第四句和第五句的内容就是独立董事离开后公司会出现的问题。两句采用并列结构展开，包含了3个并列成分。
(1)the probability that the company will subsequently have to restate earnings increased by nearly 20%(公司接下来重申收入的概率增加20%)。
(2)The likelihood of being named in a federal class-action lawsuit also increases(被卷入联邦集体诉讼的可能性增加)。
(3)the stock is likely to perform worse(股票表现较差)。
[A]选项中的stable没有体现在3个并列成分中，因此错误。
[B]选项是最容易混淆的选项，原文该句是个长难句，如果拆分不请就可能理解成为earnings increased by nearly 20%(结构拆分后表明增长的是概率而非收入)，因此错误。
[C]选项对应3个并列成分的第三个部分是正确答案。
[D]选项的错误原因与[B]选项一样。结构拆分后该句意思是被卷入诉讼的可能性增加，而诉讼过程中的表现不得而知，因此错误。

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] 推理题。题干定位在最后一段，没有明确的定位。因此需要分析段落结构，找到作者所暗示的内容。最后一段首先提到独立董事会在公司坏消息出现前离开以避免影响自己的声誉。然后提到了需要奖励来留住他们，否则Simmons女士的例子会重现。
[A]选项是对第二句的同义改写，公司留住独立董事就要提供奖励，也就是他们期望奖励。
[B]选项是对长难句的理解问题，选项定位在最后一段第一句，首先定位点在even if让步状语从句后面，这本身就不是答案的指向。因为让步状语从句的重点在主句而非从句。其次，该句的意思是历史表明错误发生的时候独立董事在董事会工作，但是错误是否是他们所犯，我们不得而知。综合以上两个方面该选项排除。
[C]选项中的stress-free在最后一段没有提到，因此属于无中生有。
[D]选项降低奖励与原文所谈及的留住独立董事要给以奖励正好相反。

单选题 The author's attitude toward the role of outside directors is______.

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】[解析] 态度题。题干考查的是对独立董事的态度，全文都是围绕独立董事展开的，因此需要梳理段落结构来分析。
第一段以Simmons为例，说明独立董事所处的环境；第二段用3个并列句说明独立董事应该履行的职责；第三段研究者以研究报告形式表明独立董事与企业的经营管理成败有关系；第四段研究者认为独立董事会舍弃公司来保全自己的声誉，而作者认为要留住他们需要提高薪酬。
因此作者对独立董事的态度是宽容的，从以下几点可以说明。首先，作者在第二段说明了独立董事应该承担的职责。其次，作者在第三段最后两句说明了独立董事并非抛弃公司，而是提升自己，离开小型风险高的公司去大型稳定公司。最后，最后一段作者认为独立董事是利益驱动的，需要多给薪酬否则还会离开。因此作者对独立董事的评价有肯定一面，也有不满的一面，总体是宽容的。很多考生认为作者的态度是批评的，是根据最后一段的第一句，但是注意该句的主语是researchers不是author，是研究者的态度而非作者的态度。