Question

    Many employees must be tempted to query on a daily basis when they see their bosses headed down the wrong track. But caution, for fear of appearing insubordinate or foolish and thus possibly at risk of losing their jobs, often leads workers to keep silent.

A culture of silence can be dangerous, argues a new book, “The Fearless Organization”, by Amy Edmondson, a professor at Harvard Business School. Some of her examples are from the airline industry. One was its deadliest accident: a crash between Boeing 747s in the Canary Islands in 1977 when a co-pilot felt unable to query his captain’s decision to take off based on a misunderstanding of instructions from air-traffic control.

The risks may be lower than life or death in most organizations, but companies also suffer  when people keep silent, Ms Edmondson believes. Volkswagen was caught up in a scandal(丑闻) over diesel(柴油)emissions from 2015. The engines of its diesel models did not meet American emissions standards and engineers devised a system to fool the regulators. Ms Edmondson says the company’s culture had been one based on threaten and fear; Ferdinand Piëch, its longtime boss, boasted of telling engineers they had six weeks to improve the bodywork fitting on pain of dismissal. In the circumstances, engineers were understandably unwilling to mention the bad news on emissions standards and instead worked around the problem. In a corporate culture based on fear and intimidation, it may appear that targets are being achieved in the short term. But in the long run the effect is likely to be counterproductive. Studies show that fear inhibits learning. And when confronted with a problem, scared workers find ways of covering it up or getting around it with inefficient practices.

The answer is to create an atmosphere of “psychological safety” whereby workers can speak their minds. In a sense, this is the equivalent of Toyota’s “lean manufacturing” process, which allows any worker who spots a problem to stop the production line. This does not mean that workers, or their ideas, are immune from criticism, or that they should complain incessantly.

As mundane(平凡的)tasks are automated, and workers rely on computers for data analysis, the added value of humans will stem from their creativity. But as Ms Edmondson’s book amply demonstrates, it is hard to be either constructive or creative if you are not confident about speaking out.

1.The underlined word “insubordinate” means    .

A.being inferior B.disobeying a superior

C.getting aggressive D.being ignorant

2.We can conclude from Paragraph 3 that    .

A.Volkswagen’s engineers designed a system to meet American emissions standards

B.when facing problems, scared workers resolve them directly

C.Volkswagen’s engineers were at risk of losing jobs

D.the culture of fear and intimidation must be counterproductive in the long term.

3.Which of the following is TRUE according to the author?

A.A culture of being silent can be life-threatening.

B.The risk of keeping silent is not necessarily associated with life and death.

C.Volkswagen’s culture is on the basis of fear.

D.The value of humans lies in originality in today’s highly-automated world.

4.What is the passage mainly about?

A.An introduction to Amy Edmondson’s new book.

B.The disadvantages of fear and intimidation culture.

C.Companies will perform better if employees are not threatened into silence.

D.People need to be confident when they are speaking out.

Answer

1.B

2.C

3.D

4.C

【解析】

这是一篇说明文。文章主要说明了许多员工每天看到自己的老板走错了路，一定会忍不住去询问。但谨慎往往导致员工保持沉默，因为他们害怕显得不服从上级或愚蠢，从而可能面临失去工作的风险。但哈佛商学院教授Amy Edmondson在其新书《无所畏惧的组织》中指出，沉默的文化是危险的，认为当员工都保持沉默时，企业也会遭受损失。并列举了大众公司的事例来说明这一观点和解决办法。

1.

词义猜测题。根据上文Many employees must be tempted to query on a daily basis when they see their bosses headed down the wrong track. But caution, for fear of appearing可知许多员工每天看到自己的老板走错了路，一定会忍不住去询问。但谨慎往往导致员工保持沉默，因为他们害怕显得不服从上级或愚蠢，从而可能面临失去工作的风险。由此可知，划线单词意思为“不服从上级”。故选B。

2.

推理判断题。根据第三段中Ms Edmondson says the company’s culture had been one based on threaten and fear; Ferdinand Piëch, its longtime boss, boasted of telling engineers they had six weeks to improve the bodywork fitting on pain of dismissal.可知Edmondson表示，该公司的文化是建立在威胁和恐惧之上的；Ferdinand Piëch，公司长期的老板，曾夸口说他们有六周的时间来改进车身装配，否则就会被解雇。由此可推知，大众的工程师面临失业的危险。故选C。

3.

细节理解题。根据最后一段中As mundane(平凡的)tasks are automated, and workers rely on computers for data analysis, the added value of humans will stem from their creativity.可知随着日常工作被自动化，员工依赖电脑进行数据分析，人类的附加值将来自于他们的创造力。由此可知，D选项“在当今高度自动化的世界里，人类的价值在于独创性”正确。故选D。

4.

主旨大意题。根据第三段中The risks may be lower than life or death in most organizations, but companies also suffer when people keep silent, Ms Edmondson believes.可知Edmondson认为，在大多数组织中，这种风险可能低于生或死，但当人们保持沉默时，企业也会遭受损失。结合文章主要说明了许多员工每天看到自己的老板走错了路，一定会忍不住去询问。但谨慎往往导致员工保持沉默，因为他们害怕显得不服从上级或愚蠢，从而可能面临失去工作的风险。但哈佛商学院教授Amy Edmondson在其新书《无所畏惧的组织》中指出，沉默的文化是危险的，认为当员工都保持沉默时，企业也会遭受损失。并列举了大众公司的事例来说明这一观点和解决办法。由此可知，这篇文章的主要内容是如果不威胁员工保持沉默，公司会表现得更好。故选C。