BEC

Beyond paperwork

The Danish electronics manufacturer, Oticon, is a leader in the move towards the paperless office, In their cafeteria a huge glass pipe runs from ceiling to floor. When the mail comes in, it is immediately scanned into the computer, shredded, and thrown down the tube to the general cheers of the employees. (0) Having all mail and memos available only as computer files to be read on the screen makes it easy to dispense with large physical storage spaces for people who work at desks (9)

Changing over to the paperless office required a rapid increase in computer literacy, but rather than set up a corporate training programme they turned the problem over to employees. Eight months before the system was installed , they offered each employee a powerful personal computer for use at home in exchange for training themselves to use it. (10)

The big change was not the move from paper memos to computer messages. Oticon realised that the more radical transformation is from written to verbal communication.(11) that adds up to a large number of face-to-face exchanges, a big improvement over memos and the occasional multi-hour sit-down consultation typical of the old culture. People do not send each other memos, they talk. As the CEO puts it, “ We have jumped through the memo wall and gone right to action.”

On the eighth of August 1991 , the company left their old wood-panelled offices .(12) Since then they have cut in half the “ time to market” on new products. The following year, sales and profits grew more than ever before. (13) in fact, despite a downsizing of 15 per cent employee satisfaction is hitting record highs.

Oticon has created an organizational pattern that supports great freedom iof action for individuals and terms. They have tied it together with a minimum hierarchy. The first clear results to show up were in the greater efficiencies generated by the fact that less time needed to be spent on management activities . (14) they also have some investment in the success of the project they choose. Oticon has succeeded in breaking the mould mould and taking a lead in non-bureaucratic organizational design.

A This saving was possible because when people have real choice in the nature of their jobs, they commit themselves to being responsible for their areas of choice.

B They were headed for a new building and a new era in communication.

C Instead, they have large private areas on their hard disks for their correspondence.

D In spite of this, the physical office layout at Oticon is one of its most charming features.

E Over 90 per cent accepted , and they organized a club to help one another learn.

F To facilitate this, the on-site coffee bars have now become the venue for about twenty meetings a day, averaging ten minutes and 2.7 participants each.

G So, are people happy with the change?

H Only about ten documents a day, items like legal contracts, escape this treatment.

《Beyond paperwork》，一個公司為paperless office所做的努力。

第九題，在一段話的最后填寫一個句子。第一段就是介紹這個公司的基本情況，當(dāng)有郵件進(jìn)來時，立馬傳到電腦上，然后傳給每個員工。最后一空前面的句子說，讓所有的郵件、備忘錄等等只以電腦文件的形式在屏幕上被讀取有利于為辦公桌旁邊的人省出空間。后面要填入的是本段的最后一個句子，所以內(nèi)容是緊跟上面的內(nèi)容說的。前面說省出辦公桌旁邊的空間，是好處，那么后面應(yīng)該還是關(guān)于這種computer files的好處，C選項最符合這個條件：在硬盤上有足夠大的私人通信區(qū)域。

第十題，也是這段的最后一個句子，緊承上文就是了。這段講的就是這個計算機郵件系統(tǒng)建立了之后，怎么解決員工的適應(yīng)問題。員工要想適應(yīng)純電腦通訊，還需要學(xué)習(xí)。第十空的前面說的是給每個員工一個個人電腦家用(這文章是不是很早了，收發(fā)個電腦郵件還要專門學(xué)習(xí)??)，而不是對他們進(jìn)行培訓(xùn)。后面的內(nèi)容應(yīng)該緊跟著也是關(guān)于這個學(xué)習(xí)的。可能是這種學(xué)習(xí)方式的好處，可能是對這種學(xué)習(xí)方式的進(jìn)一步說明。E選項最符合這個條件，其他的都對不上。因為沒有專門的培訓(xùn)，是讓每個人自己琢磨，方式特殊。E說的是90%的人接受了這個方式，同時還建立了一個俱樂部讓每個人互相幫助學(xué)習(xí)。

第十一題，這段是關(guān)于具體的轉(zhuǎn)變的實現(xiàn)。最大的變化不是由紙上向電腦轉(zhuǎn)變，而是由書面交流向口頭交流的轉(zhuǎn)變。要填對這一空，關(guān)鍵得看后面的一句：那大幅度增加了面對面交流的次數(shù)。從后面這個句子中的that可以看出，前面的空應(yīng)該填入的是要實現(xiàn)從書面交流向口頭交流轉(zhuǎn)變的措施，實行了什么措施，才會增加face-to-face communication。選F：一天20次會議，一次10分鐘，供人交流。

第十二題，這題答案是最明顯的。前面說辦公室搬遷。后面接著就該說搬到哪里去了，選B，headed for是非常明顯的暗示。搬到了一個新建筑，同時也搬進(jìn)了一個溝通的新時代。

第十三題，空格前面說公司利潤在增長。空格后面說員工滿意度創(chuàng)紀(jì)錄了。中間要填入一個過渡句，因為并不是錢多了幸福指數(shù)就會上升的。選G，公司的一系列員工對這些change是否滿意?然后后文揭示答案，滿意度創(chuàng)了記錄。

第十四題，最后一段全是夸這個公司的，在組織模式上給了個人和組織很大的自由。這一空的前面介紹的是這種自由給組織帶來的第一個好處(first clear results)，說在管理活動上所花的時間少了，效率因此提高了?？崭窈竺媸堑诙€好處(also)，那么空格的內(nèi)容就應(yīng)該是對第一個好處的進(jìn)一步說明。選A，this savings是很明顯的，指前面花的時間比較少。A介紹的是能這么節(jié)省的原因。

Relevant link：

2012商務(wù)英語中級考試每日一練(7月26日)

（責(zé)任編輯：中大編輯）

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