Sociologists have long recognized that organizations of less than 200 individuals can operate through the free flow of information among the members. Once their size goes beyond this figure, the organizations are getting less flexible. So it seems necessary to prevent total disorder resulting from failures of communication.

   One solution to this problem would, of course, be to structure large organizations into smaller units of a size that can act as a group. By allowing these groups to build reliance on each other, larger organizations can be built up. However, merely having groups of, say, 150 will never of itself be a complete solution to the problems of the organization. Something else is needed: the people involved must be able to build direct personal relationships. To allow free flow of information, they have to be able to communicate with each other in a casual way. Maintaining too formal a structure of relationships inevitably prevents the way a system works.

  The importance of this was drawn to my attention two years ago by the case of a TV station. Whether by chance or by design, it so happened that there were almost exactly 150 people in the station. The whole process worked very smoothly as an organization for many years until they were moved into purpose-built accommodation. Then, for no apparent reason, the work seemed to be more difficult to do, not to say less satisfying.

 It was some time before they work out what the problem was. It turn out that, when the architects were designing the new building, they decided that the coffee room where everyone ate their sandwiches at lunch times was an unnecessary luxury and so did away with it. And with that, they accidentally destroyed the close social networks that strengthened the whole organization. What had apparently been happening was that, as people gathered informally over their sandwiches in the coffee room, useful information was casually being exchanged.

68．What size of an organization may lead to communication failures?

       A．An organization of less than 200 individuals.

       B．An organization of more than 200 individuals.

       C．An organization of less than 150 individuals.

       D．An organization of more than 150 individuals.

69．We can solve the communication problem within a large organization by         .

       A．a(chǎn)llowing free flow of information

       B．maintaining a formal structure of relationships

       C．structuring larger organizations into smaller units

       D．structuring smaller organizations and building direct personal relationship

70．After the TV station moved into new accommodation, its operation         .

       A．seemed to be more difficult                   B．seemed to be more satisfying

       C．seemed to be more successful               D．seemed to be more effective

71．What can b e concluded from the last paragraph?

       A．It’s unwise to do away with the coffee room when designing a new office building.

       B．The coffee room is the most important place in an office building.

       C．Useful information was formally being exchanged over their sandwiches in the coffee room.

       D．The coffee room where everyone ate their sandwiches at lunch times was an unnecessary luxury.

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The underlined word in the second paragraph can be replaced by        

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In this century the traditional American family is constantly faced with the threat of breakdown. Some sociologists suggest that one little-noticed cause may be the introduction of the TV dinner.

     Before the appearance of television sets, the American dinner was a big event for the family. In many homes, dinner time may be the only time when everyone got together. A typical dinner was usually in three stages. In the preparation stage, the children and Father frequently helped with setting while Mother put the last touches on the roast. In the eating stage, family members shared the day's experiences and more than food was eaten. In this stage families got to know one another and made joint decisions around the dinner table, and thus the family unit was strengthened. In the cleaning-up stage, children or Father again gave their hands, so that their importance to the home community was clear. Unfortunately, all of these have been removed by a product---the television set.

     By the beginning of the 1980s, the typical American family dinner was just twenty minutes long. The speed-up of the once-leisurely experiences is clearly connected to the pace of modern life and maybe a model of the modern life is the TV dinners --- meals designed to be eaten from the beginning to the end of a half-hour program. The once family affair has now become nothing more than the use of a fork and knife.

64. The underlined word in the second paragraph can be replaced by ____.

A. big       B. important                 C. combined         D. separate

65. In the past, Americans tended to ____.

A. spend more time eating their food at dinner table

B. eat more food than they have today

C. spend more time talking about their day's experiences at dinner table

D. talk so much that they forgot to eat

66. The shortening of the dinner time in America is related to ____.

A. the TV programs                      B. the pace of modern life

C. the wide use of electrical equipment    D. the popularity of fast food

67. The best title for this passage might be ____.

  A. Talk at Dinner Table                        B. TV Dinner

  C. Pace of Modern Life                      D. Problems Caused by TV

 

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