单选题 24.To evaluate a plan to save money on office-space expenditures by having its employees work at home, XYZ Company asked volunteers from its staff to try the arrangement for six months. During this period, the productivity of these employees was as high as or higher than before.
Which of the following, if true, would argue most strongly against deciding, on the basis of the trial results, to implement the company's plan?

A、 The employees who agreed to participate in the test of the plan were among the company's most self-motivated and independent workers.
B、 The savings that would accrue from reduced office-space expenditures alone would be sufficient to justify the arrangement for the company, apart from any productivity increases.
C、 Other companies that have achieved successful results from work-at-home plans have workforces that are substantially larger than that of XYZ.
D、 The volunteers who worked at home were able to communicate with other employees as necessary for performing the work.
E、 Minor changes in the way office work is organized at XYZ would yield increases in employee productivity similar to those achieved in the trial.

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】Evaluation of a Plan
Situation To save money on office space expenditures, a company considers having employees work at home. A six-month trial with employees who have volunteered to test the plan shows their productivity to be as high as or higher than before.
Reasoning Why would the trial results NOT provide a good reason to implement the plan? Generalizing from a small sample to the group depends on having a sample that is representative. In this case, the employees who participated in the trial are not representative of all employees. The employees who volunteered for the trial may be the type of employees who would be most likely to work successfully at home. It would not be wise to base a generalization about all employees on this sample.
A Correct. This statement properly identifies a flaw in the trial that is the basis for the plan.
B This statement supports the implementation of the plan. Moreover, it is not based on the trial results, so it does not answer the question.
C The passage gives no information about how company size might affect the implementation of the plan or the reliability of the trial results.
D If anything, this would tend to support the plan.
E The goal of the plan is to save money on office space, not to increase productivity, so an alternative plan to increase productivity is irrelevant.
The correct answer is A.