Question

【題目】The New economy has brought great business opportunities besides great challenges. Not since the Industrial Revolution has managing with change been so urgent a matter. Indeed, the Information Age has accelerated the pace of market and business changes to the point where some firms have set up "change departments" whose job is to constantly look for opportunities to change the firm and make it more productive.

Most firms have accepted the fact that they must make major changes. To remain competitive, companies recognize that they need to be in a constant process of changing themselves. This change is accompanied by the need to be willing to take risks in management style. Managers with such spirit have called themselves "change agents".

Despite some remarkable successes, however, introducing managing change has not been a simple matter. Firms have tried to introduce change to achieve its attendant efficiencies (節(jié)省幵支）through new technologies, restructuring, or outsourcing. Yet, this has cost a great deal of time and money, but often led to at best mixed results: approximately 75% of all change activities failed. 、

The reason for most of these failures is that change often lacks a central focus. Managers become confused by all different and sometimes conflicting advice they receive about change management. The result is a loss of central focus and disorganized policies. To improve their chances of success, it is extremely important that managers should understand the nature and process of the whole company's change and its challenges much better.

【1】What is the article mainly about?

A. Developing strong marketing plans.

B. Bringing in top technologies.

C. Ways for companies to hire better managers.

D. Changes of companies' operations.

【2】The words "change agents" in Paragraph 2 are closest in meaning to “_____ ”.

A. instructors B. customers

C. reformers D. performers

【3】According to the article, why do companies frequently fail to change?

A. Managers are conservative. B. Not enough attention is paid.

C. Employees generally fight change. D. Policies are not well directed.

【4】What does the article suggest managers do?

A. Spend more time and money. B. Improve their knowledge.

C. Buy more advanced technologies. D. Face their challenge directly.

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】D

【2】C

【3】D

【4】B

【解析】本文是一篇議論文。主要說了新型經濟不僅帶來了挑戰(zhàn)，同時也帶來了機遇。但在改變過程中遇到了失敗……總結失敗原因，提升管理者能力，更好的進行企業(yè)改革和應對挑戰(zhàn)。

【1】主旨大意題。從第一段中“Not since the Industrial Revolution has managing with change been so urgent a matter. ” 和“change departments”及上下文可以看出本文主要內容為“企業(yè)管理的改變”。故選D

【2】詞義推斷題。根據(jù)文章內容及第二段開頭“Most firms have accepted the fact that they must make major changes”可以得知，A：“指導員”、B：“顧客”、C：“改革者”、D：“演出者”所以選C。

【3】細節(jié)理解題。從最后一段中“The reason for most of these failures is that change often lacks a central focus. ”和“The result is a loss of central focus and disorganized policies. ”可以看出選D。

【4】細節(jié)理解題。從最后一段中“advice they receive about change management. ”得知文章主要建議經理們增長知識。故選B。