A few years ago, Pioneer Hi-Bred International, where I was employed. purchased

A few years ago, Pioneer Hi-BredInternational, where I was employed. purchased Norand Corporation. Pioneer'ssales representatives in the field used Norand hand-held terminals to uploaddaily sales information and download new price and sales incentive information.Pioneer bought so many of these hand-held-terminals, the economies made thepurchase of Norand look interesting. Owning Norand also allowed Pioneer toexplore high-technology markets outside agriculture.

But after a few years, the emerging laptopPC technology made the hand-held units obsolete (已废弃的). Pioneer sold Norand at a loss. Pioneeralways took a given percent of the annual profits to divide equally among allemployees, so our profit-sharing checks were lower than if Pioneer had notpurchased Norand. Additionally, my Pioneer stock was lower than it had beenbefore the purchase of Norand. I was not pleased.

The CEO of Pioneer, Tom Urban, made annualformal visits to each of the Pioneer divisions to talk about the state of thebusiness and to listen to employees' concerns. When he walked into the meetingroom for his first visit after the sale of Norand, he acknowledged the group,remove his jacket, and neatly folded it across the back of the chair. Heloosened his tie, undid his collar and rolled up his sleeves.The next thinghe said was the last thing I ever expected to hear a CEO say.

He said, "I made a mistake buyingNorand and I am sorry. I am sorry your profit-sharing was lower because of thepurchase, and I am sorry your stock was hurt by the purchase. I will continueto take risks, but I am a bit smarter now, and I will work harder foryou."

A great man and leader stood before us thatday. As I sat listening to him, I knew I could trust him, and that he deservedevery bit of loyalty I could give to him and to Pioneer. I also knew I couldtake risks in my own job.

In the brief moment of silence before thequestions started, I recall thinking that follow him into any battle.

1.All of the following are the resultsbrought by Pioneer's purchase of Norand except     .

2.The underlined sentence in the thirdparagraph is closest in meaning to       .

3.Why did Tom Urban remove his jacket,loosen his tie, undo his collar and roll up his sleeves before he spoke?

4.What did the employees feel after Tom Urbanapologized to them?

试题答案

【答案】

1.C

2.A

3.D

4.C

【解析】文章讲述了一位CEO决策失误以后坦诚的承认自己的失误，反而受到员工的信任的小故事。本篇文章需要考生有一定的耐心。

1.细节题。第一段最后一行说明A正确。第一段2,3行说明B正确。第二段第三行说明D正确。C文章没有提及。

2.推理题。注意这里的last的意思，这里是指最不想听见一个CEO说的话，根据下文可知这位首席执行官承认自己的错误。

3.推理题。根据文章的意思可知他的决策有误，损失了员工的利益，所以他做出这样的一系列动作，就是为了拉近与员工的距离。

4.推理题。根据文章倒数第二段2,3行hedeserved every bit of loyalty I could give to him and to Pioneer. I also knew Icould take risks in my own job.可知我更加信任他了。