单选题 0分

Text l Americans, we are told, believe in competition. But a shockingly large number of workers ...

Text l
Americans, we are told, believe in competition. But a shockingly large number of workers - 30 million - are shackled by what are called "noncompetes," which are agreements forbidding employees to leave their job to work for a competitor or to start their own competing business. And the number is growing fast.
Once reserved for a corporation's most treasured rainmakers, noncompetes are now routinely applied to low-wage workers like warehouse employees, fast-food workers and even dog sitters. Like other anti-competitive practices, they poison our economy in larger, less perceptible ways. A report from the Treasury Department suggests that noncompetes should be banned for all employees, regardless of skill, industry or wage; they simply do more harm than good.
Because laws governing noncompetes vary from state to state, we can analyze the effects of these kinds of contracts on wages, competition and labor mobility. The evidence shows wages in states that enforce noncompetes are 10 percent lower than in states that restrict their use. The Treasury Department concluded in its recent report that "by reducing workers' job options, noncompete agreements force workers to accept lower wages in their current jobs, and may sometimes induce workers to leave their occupations entirely, forgoing accumulated human capital. " Workers shackled by noncompetes cannot rely on outside offers and free-market competition to fairly value their talents. Without incentives to increase wages in- house, companies can allow salaries to plateau.
California and Massachusetts offer a case study within the high-tech industry. California strictly voids all noncompete agreements. Massachusetts, like most other states, enforces noncompetes. Both states enjoyed an early boom within the high-tech market, but California's Silicon Valley has continued growing, while Massachusetts has sputtered. In Massachusetts the enforcement of those agreements kept out new businesses by preventing people most likely to start new businesses - experienced former employees - from staying in the region. Meanwhile, in Silicon Valley, entrepreneurial activity flourished; thanks to California's refusal to enforce all noncompetes (including those from other jurisdictions),it remains the tech center of the world.
The best companies already realize the damaging effect of post-employment restrictions. Companies with little turnover risk becoming stagnant and short-sighted. In fact, relying on noncompetes rather than active recruitment and retention creates a market for lemons - a business will end up with employees who stay despite their unhappiness. Smart leaders treat departing employees as alumni, rather than sour exes in a divorce. But too many other employers have become increasingly inclined to bring disagreements with their former employees to court, relying on noncompetes rather than positive incentives to retain the best talent and reduce the competition.
The liberty to move in the job market not only supports workers' choice, equality and wage growth but also creates the competition that catalyzes entrepreneurship, innovation and overall economic growth. If we want a healthy and free market, we should not shackle workers to the first business that offers them a job. Let them compete.
24. Concerning departing employees, it Js wise for leaders to.
  • A. treat them like a traitor
  • B. respect their choice willingly
  • C. take legal actions against them
  • D. manage to persuade them to stay

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1 单选题 0分
Text 1
They are falling like dominoes. Executives caught behaving badly might once have been
slapped on the wrist. Today they are shown the door. On July 19th Paramount Television fired its president, Amy Powell, over reports of insensitive comments about race. This is only the latest bigwig to go in a line of departures linked to "personal misconduct". "Boards are now holding executives to higher standards, looking not just at how they treat people but also how they talk to and about them," says Pam Jeffords of Mercer, a consultancy.
The thread connecting these incidents is that all are about perceptions of executive integrity, and by extension, trust. Since trust violations are particularly hard for firms to overcome, often more so than incompetence, firms may believe that firing an errant executive can be the safest, most pragmatic course of action.
Executives were never alt angels. What has changed is that boards are now far less willing to overlook bad behaviour for the sake of superior performance. A 2017 report from PwC, a professional-services firm, found that the share of chief-executive dismissals that were due to ethical lapses increased between 2007-11 and 2012-2016, not because bosses were behaving worse but because they were held more accountable.
Boards seem to be acting thus for two reasons. First, to protect employees and create a safe and inclusive work environment. Second, to protect their brands' reputations. A 2016 study from researchers at Stanford showed that the fallout from chief executives behaving badly, but not unlawfully, was large and lasting. On average each of the 38 incidents studied garnered 250 news stories, with media attention lasting 4. 9 years. Shares usually suffered, though not always. And in a third of cases firms faced further damage, including loss of major clients and federal investigations.
Should an executive's words be judged as harshly as their actions? From the perspective of protecting the brand, as well as discouraging a toxic work environment, they probably should. The power of social media to turn a whispered comment into a Twitterstorm, and the fact that everyone now has a mobile recording device, demands a decisive response.
But boards and the media also risk rushing to judgment and painting the wicked with too broad a brush. An insensitive remark made long ago or as a one-off is not the same as one made as the face of the firm or as part of a consistent pattern. Disney's firing of James Gunn, a director, last week over tweets from a decade ago, before he was hired and for which he has apologised, seems to be one instance in which such distinctions have been papered over. And plenty of companies benefit from environments where people can speak openly and brainstorm out loud.
Once the fallen dominos have been counted, some firms may turn out to have been too gung-ho in responding to the "Weinstein effect". Many, perhaps most, exits will be justified. But all?
21. The phrase "slapped on the wrist"(Line 2, Para. 1) is closest in meaning to
  • A. given an easy penalty
  • B. forced to resign
  • C. despised by the public
  • D. arrested by the police
2 单选题 0分
Text 1
They are falling like dominoes. Executives caught behaving badly might once have been
slapped on the wrist. Today they are shown the door. On July 19th Paramount Television fired its president, Amy Powell, over reports of insensitive comments about race. This is only the latest bigwig to go in a line of departures linked to "personal misconduct". "Boards are now holding executives to higher standards, looking not just at how they treat people but also how they talk to and about them," says Pam Jeffords of Mercer, a consultancy.
The thread connecting these incidents is that all are about perceptions of executive integrity, and by extension, trust. Since trust violations are particularly hard for firms to overcome, often more so than incompetence, firms may believe that firing an errant executive can be the safest, most pragmatic course of action.
Executives were never alt angels. What has changed is that boards are now far less willing to overlook bad behaviour for the sake of superior performance. A 2017 report from PwC, a professional-services firm, found that the share of chief-executive dismissals that were due to ethical lapses increased between 2007-11 and 2012-2016, not because bosses were behaving worse but because they were held more accountable.
Boards seem to be acting thus for two reasons. First, to protect employees and create a safe and inclusive work environment. Second, to protect their brands' reputations. A 2016 study from researchers at Stanford showed that the fallout from chief executives behaving badly, but not unlawfully, was large and lasting. On average each of the 38 incidents studied garnered 250 news stories, with media attention lasting 4. 9 years. Shares usually suffered, though not always. And in a third of cases firms faced further damage, including loss of major clients and federal investigations.
Should an executive's words be judged as harshly as their actions? From the perspective of protecting the brand, as well as discouraging a toxic work environment, they probably should. The power of social media to turn a whispered comment into a Twitterstorm, and the fact that everyone now has a mobile recording device, demands a decisive response.
But boards and the media also risk rushing to judgment and painting the wicked with too broad a brush. An insensitive remark made long ago or as a one-off is not the same as one made as the face of the firm or as part of a consistent pattern. Disney's firing of James Gunn, a director, last week over tweets from a decade ago, before he was hired and for which he has apologised, seems to be one instance in which such distinctions have been papered over. And plenty of companies benefit from environments where people can speak openly and brainstorm out loud.
Once the fallen dominos have been counted, some firms may turn out to have been too gung-ho in responding to the "Weinstein effect". Many, perhaps most, exits will be justified. But all?
22. Boards today value most executives
  • A. communication skills
  • B. professional competence
  • C. moral rntegrity
  • D. loyalty to the company
3 单选题 0分
Text 1
They are falling like dominoes. Executives caught behaving badly might once have been
slapped on the wrist. Today they are shown the door. On July 19th Paramount Television fired its president, Amy Powell, over reports of insensitive comments about race. This is only the latest bigwig to go in a line of departures linked to "personal misconduct". "Boards are now holding executives to higher standards, looking not just at how they treat people but also how they talk to and about them," says Pam Jeffords of Mercer, a consultancy.
The thread connecting these incidents is that all are about perceptions of executive integrity, and by extension, trust. Since trust violations are particularly hard for firms to overcome, often more so than incompetence, firms may believe that firing an errant executive can be the safest, most pragmatic course of action.
Executives were never alt angels. What has changed is that boards are now far less willing to overlook bad behaviour for the sake of superior performance. A 2017 report from PwC, a professional-services firm, found that the share of chief-executive dismissals that were due to ethical lapses increased between 2007-11 and 2012-2016, not because bosses were behaving worse but because they were held more accountable.
Boards seem to be acting thus for two reasons. First, to protect employees and create a safe and inclusive work environment. Second, to protect their brands' reputations. A 2016 study from researchers at Stanford showed that the fallout from chief executives behaving badly, but not unlawfully, was large and lasting. On average each of the 38 incidents studied garnered 250 news stories, with media attention lasting 4. 9 years. Shares usually suffered, though not always. And in a third of cases firms faced further damage, including loss of major clients and federal investigations.
Should an executive's words be judged as harshly as their actions? From the perspective of protecting the brand, as well as discouraging a toxic work environment, they probably should. The power of social media to turn a whispered comment into a Twitterstorm, and the fact that everyone now has a mobile recording device, demands a decisive response.
But boards and the media also risk rushing to judgment and painting the wicked with too broad a brush. An insensitive remark made long ago or as a one-off is not the same as one made as the face of the firm or as part of a consistent pattern. Disney's firing of James Gunn, a director, last week over tweets from a decade ago, before he was hired and for which he has apologised, seems to be one instance in which such distinctions have been papered over. And plenty of companies benefit from environments where people can speak openly and brainstorm out loud.
Once the fallen dominos have been counted, some firms may turn out to have been too gung-ho in responding to the "Weinstein effect". Many, perhaps most, exits will be justified. But all?
23. The report from PwC reveals
  • A. decreased tolerance to incompetent executives
  • B. increased immoral behaviors among executives
  • C. improvement in executives' job performance
  • D. increased requirements on executives' accountability
4 单选题 0分
Text 1
They are falling like dominoes. Executives caught behaving badly might once have been
slapped on the wrist. Today they are shown the door. On July 19th Paramount Television fired its president, Amy Powell, over reports of insensitive comments about race. This is only the latest bigwig to go in a line of departures linked to "personal misconduct". "Boards are now holding executives to higher standards, looking not just at how they treat people but also how they talk to and about them," says Pam Jeffords of Mercer, a consultancy.
The thread connecting these incidents is that all are about perceptions of executive integrity, and by extension, trust. Since trust violations are particularly hard for firms to overcome, often more so than incompetence, firms may believe that firing an errant executive can be the safest, most pragmatic course of action.
Executives were never alt angels. What has changed is that boards are now far less willing to overlook bad behaviour for the sake of superior performance. A 2017 report from PwC, a professional-services firm, found that the share of chief-executive dismissals that were due to ethical lapses increased between 2007-11 and 2012-2016, not because bosses were behaving worse but because they were held more accountable.
Boards seem to be acting thus for two reasons. First, to protect employees and create a safe and inclusive work environment. Second, to protect their brands' reputations. A 2016 study from researchers at Stanford showed that the fallout from chief executives behaving badly, but not unlawfully, was large and lasting. On average each of the 38 incidents studied garnered 250 news stories, with media attention lasting 4. 9 years. Shares usually suffered, though not always. And in a third of cases firms faced further damage, including loss of major clients and federal investigations.
Should an executive's words be judged as harshly as their actions? From the perspective of protecting the brand, as well as discouraging a toxic work environment, they probably should. The power of social media to turn a whispered comment into a Twitterstorm, and the fact that everyone now has a mobile recording device, demands a decisive response.
But boards and the media also risk rushing to judgment and painting the wicked with too broad a brush. An insensitive remark made long ago or as a one-off is not the same as one made as the face of the firm or as part of a consistent pattern. Disney's firing of James Gunn, a director, last week over tweets from a decade ago, before he was hired and for which he has apologised, seems to be one instance in which such distinctions have been papered over. And plenty of companies benefit from environments where people can speak openly and brainstorm out loud.
Once the fallen dominos have been counted, some firms may turn out to have been too gung-ho in responding to the "Weinstein effect". Many, perhaps most, exits will be justified. But all?
24. We can infer from Paragraphs 4 and 5 that
  • A. many executives behaved badly because of their eagerness to protect brand reputation
  • B. only a small percentage of the stories about executives have been proved true
  • C. a firm may suffer heavy losses due to an insensitive remark from its executives
  • D. social media is encouraging misconducts among chief executives with its great power