Question

    Ronald Reagan ever said, “It’s true hard work never killed anybody, but I figure, why take the chance?” To some extent, extra effort seems to be self-defeating. Studies suggest that, after 50 hours a week, employee productivity falls sharply.

But that doesn’t stop some managers from demanding that workers stay chained to their desk for long periods. Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba, recently praised the “996” model, where employees work from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., 6 days a week, as a “huge blessing”. Apparently, presenteeism (出勤主义) is the curse of the modern office worker.

There will be days when you do not have much to do: perhaps because you are waiting for someone else in a different department, or a different company, to respond to a request. As the clock ticks past 5 pm, there may be no purpose in staying at your desk. But you can see your boss hard at work and, more importantly, they can see you. So you make an effort to look busy.

Some of this may be a self-continuing cycle. If bosses do not like to go home before their employees, and employees fear leaving before their bosses, everyone is trapped. Staff may feel that they will not get a pay rise, or a promotion, if they are not seen to be putting in maximum effort. This is easily confused with long hours. Managers, who are often no good at judging employees’ performance, use time in the office as a measure. The consequence is often wasted effort. We pretend to work and managers pretend to believe us. Rather than work hard, you try to make bosses think that you are. Leaving a jacket on your office chair, walking around purposefully with a notebook and sending out emails at odd hours are three of the best-known tricks. After a while this can result in collective self-delusion that this pretence is actual work.

But presenteeism has more serious consequences. It is perhaps most common in Japan, where people attend the office even when they are in discomfort. In doing so, they are doing neither themselves nor their employers any favours. As well as reducing productivity, this can increase medical expenses for the employer. According to a study in the Journal of Occupation and Environmental Medicine, these costs can be six times higher for employers than the costs of absenteeism among workers. Those workers were more likely to experience greater pain and to suffer from depression.

In the evolution of humanity, presenteeism is a recent phenomenon. In the industrial era, workers were paid not for their output but for their time, and were required to clock in and out. But modern machinery like smartphones and laptops is portable. Turning an office into a prison, with prisoners allowed home for the evenings, does nothing for the creativity that is increasingly demanded of office workers as routine tasks are automated. To be productive you need presence of mind, not being present in the flesh.

1.What can we learn from Paragraph 2 and Paragraph 3?

A. Employees often have to work extra hours.

B. Extra effort improves employees’ productivity.

C. “996” model is well received around the world.

D. Both bosses and employees are devoted to their jobs.

2.What does the underlined “This” in Paragraph 4 refer to?

A. Hoping to get a pay rise. B. Going home after the boss.

C. Putting in maximum effort. D. Judging employees’ performance.

3.Which of the following is one the results of long-time presenteeism?

A. Reducing medical costs of employees.

B. Making employees more hard-working.

C. Increasing the competition among employees.

D. Worsening employees’ physical and mental condition.

4.What does the author want to tell us in the last paragraph?

A. Employees should be treated as prisoners.

B. Productivity can’t be measured by presenteeism now.

C. Office tasks usually can’t be carried out automatically.

D. Office workers should be allowed to be absent-minded.

Answer

1.A

2.C

3.D

4.B

【解析】

这是一篇议论文。作者主要针对员工加班问题提出看法：长时间的加班不仅工作效率低下，还造成身体不适，想要提高效率，必须是身心俱在的状态，不能只是形式上的出勤主义。

1.推理判断题。根据文章2、3段，第二段讲的是马云赞成996工作制，第三段讲的是你努力让自己看上去很忙。“As the clock ticks past 5 pm, there may be no purpose in staying at your desk. But you can see your boss hard at work and, more importantly, they can see you. So you make an effort to look busy.” 这说明员工往往要加班。因此答案选择A。

2.词义猜测题。对this所在段落进行三句读。“Staff may feel that they will not get a pay rise, or a promotion, if they are not seen to be putting inmaximum effort. This is easily confused with long hours. Managers, who are often no good at judging employees’ performance, use time in the office as a measure.”（员工可能会觉得，如果他们没有尽最大努力工作，就不会得到加薪或升职。这很容易与长时间工作混淆。经理们通常不善于判断员工的表现，他们把在办公室的时间作为衡量标准。）因此this指的是“putting in maximum effort”。故选C。

3.细节理解题。根据倒数第二段我们可知后果是：人们即使在不舒服的时候也会去上班，会降低生产率，还会增加雇主的医疗费用。这些工人更容易遭受更大的痛苦和抑郁。所以答案选择D。

4.推理判断题。根据最后一段原文可知In the evolution of humanity, presenteeism is a recent phenomenon.而这种现象是低效的。To be productive you need presence of mind being present in the flesh.如果希望高效，那就需要身心俱在，而不是单纯的presenteeism。故选B。