Day72014年春季口译备考阅读真题分析.PDF

昂立外语口译项目部 Day 7 2014 年春季口译备考 阅读真题分析 Questions 16—20 Questions 16—20 After a decades-long search for a manageable balance between motherhood and career, a group of American women have found work in a place that sounds like paradise. At the Minneapolis headquarters of Best Buy, an electronics retailer, almost 2,000 employees are allowed to turn up for work when they like—as long as their jobs get done. A unique experiment in flexible work hours is attracting international attention as a possible solution to one of the most familiar dilemmas faced by employers and their female workforces: how do you make jobs and families compatible? For Traci Tobias, 36, a manager in Best Buy’s travel office, the transformation of the company into a pioneer of flexible working practices has produced one incalculable benefit: “My kids have stopped saying every morning, ‘Mommy, I don’t want you to go to work’.” The introduction of what Best Buy calls a “results oriented work environment” was partly intended to reverse a trend among valued female employees who were opting for part-time jobs as more compatible with family life. It is also aimed at cutting the worker stress and executive burnout that are increasingly troubling US corporations. The programme goes far beyond the variable starting and finishing hours of many companies’ so-called flexitime schedules. It measures worker performance not by the hours clocked at a desk, but by the achievement of company goals. Best Buy officials acknowledge that their programme may not suit every employer, and the company has experienced significant hiccups in changing a corporate culture that placed a premium on long working hours and personal sacrifice. Ambitious employees who believed they could get ahead by working late at their office desks are wondering if anyone will notice their effort. Yet the r