Question

    Tired of his staff always keeping checking emails and the sound of their smart phones, Paul Devoy decided to ban all phones, tablets and laptops from meetings. He says meetings have become much more productive.

It is true that the sound of the phones has a harmful effect on our ability to concentrate. One Standford University study shows that people who regularly deal with electronic alerts and messages do not pay attention or control their memory as well as those who concentrate on doing one thing at a time.

Mr Devoy introduced his ban on technology in meetings, but he says exceptions are made if important personal calls are expected.

''These things need to be reasonable, '' he says, adding he was surprised to find that his staff all accepted the ban and some were even enthusiastic about the ban.

Mr Devoy has gone a step further in his purge(清除)of technology. He has banned PowerPoint presentations from meetings, and finds that discussion now flows more freely.

Nena Chaletzos, leader and founder of online travel start-up Luxtripper, is also a supporter of tech-free meetings. She runs her company’s weekly meeting without phones or laptops. Instead, for the one-hour meeting, her team of eight are asked to bring along the A3 whiteboard they have each been given, on which they write meeting notes and action points. At the end of the meeting, everyone's actions for the week are agreed. The whiteboards are kept on show and tasks are erased as they are completed.

''I tell them to bring their ideas and brains to the meeting, not their technology, '' Ms Chaletzos says. Once the meeting went on for three hours, discussion is now so much more focused and productive that it can be kept to a strict 60 minutes, she says. At first, the staff worried about customers being unable to reach them, but Ms Chaletzos told them that all they needed was a warning. An unexpected result, she says, is that meetings are much more friendly and open.

Technology is still very much used at the start-up but only at the right time. For example, Ms Chaletzos' team use Slack, which has helped end the need for other meetings.

1.Why did Paul Devoy ban phones from meetings?

A.Because his staff wasted too much time on emails.

B.Because phones weakened his staff's ability to focus.

C.Because he doesn't like the sound of smart phones.

D.Because his staff are buried in their personal affairs.

2.A study from Stanford University is mentioned to ______.

A.introduce Nena Chaletzo's decision

B.prove the harm the sound of smart phones causes

C.show Paul Devoy's decision is right

D.give a similar story to the one mentioned above

3.If a person in Paul Devoy's company is allowed to answer personal calls during the meeting, ___.

A.the person must be Paul Devoy himself B.other staff will ask for the same right

C.something important must happen D.Paul Devoy will punish the person

4.After technology was banned from meetings, Paul Devoy's staff ______.

A.disagreed and stopped working B.were happy to observe the ban

C.thought that he would fail D.disappointed him a lot

Answer

1.B

2.C

3.C

4.B

【解析】

这是一篇记叙文。文章主要讲述了Paul Devoy和Nena Chaletzos在自己公司的会议上禁止使用手机、电脑等科技产品，这使得会议更加高效。

1.细节理解题。根据第一段的Tired of his staff always keeping checking emails and the sound of their smart phones, Paul Devoy decided to ban all phones, tablets and laptops from meetings. (对员工总是查看邮件和他们手机的声音感到厌烦，Paul决定在会议时禁止所有的电话、笔记本电脑和台式电脑)和第二段的One Standford University study shows that people who regularly deal with electronic alerts and messages do not pay attention or control their memory as well as those who concentrate on doing one thing at a time.(斯坦福大学的一项研究表明经常处理电子警报和信息的人不像那些一次只专注于一件事情的人那样注意力集中或者控制自己的记忆)可知，Paul禁止会议时使用手机，是因为手机降低了员工的注意力。B. Because phones weakened his staff's ability to focus. (因为手机减弱了员工的注意力)符合以上说法，故选B项。

2.推理判断题。根据第二段的One Standford University study shows that people who regularly deal with electronic alerts and messages do not pay attention or control their memory as well as those who concentrate on doing one thing at a time.( 斯坦福大学的一项研究表明经常处理电子警报和信息的人不像那些一次只专注于一件事情的人那样注意力集中或者控制自己的记忆)可知，经常看手机或查看邮件会让人注意力不集中。由此推测，列举该研究的目的是为了证明Paul的决定是正确的。C. show Paul Devoy's decision is right(表明Paul的决定是正确的)符合以上推测，故选C项。

3.推理判断题。根据第三段的Mr Devoy introduced his ban on technology in meetings, but he says exceptions are made if important personal calls are expected. (Paul先生在会议上提出了他的禁令，但是他说也有例外，如果重要的私人电话是可以接受的)可推测，如果一个员工在Paul的会议上接了电话，那么肯定发生了重要的事情。C. something important must happen(重要的事情肯定发生了)符合以上推测，故选C项。

4.细节理解题。根据第四段的''These things need to be reasonable, '' he says, adding he was surprised to find that his staff all accepted the ban and some were even enthusiastic about the ban. (他说：“这些事情必须是合理的”，接着补充说道，他惊讶地发现他的员工都接受了禁令，有些人甚至对禁令很感兴趣)和第五段的Mr Devoy has gone a step further in his purge of technology.(Paul已经在更一步地实施科技清除)可知，Paul的员工都愉快的执行禁令。B. were happy to observe the ban(愉快地执行禁令)符合以上说法，故选B项。