2014年上半年商务英语中级阅读试题6

　　Look at the statements below and the article about the development of future business leaders on the opposite page. Which section of the article (A, B, C or D) does each statement (1-7) refer to?

　　For each statement (1-7), mark one letter (A, B, C or D) on your Answer Sheet.

　　You will need to use some of these letters more than once.

　　1 Managers need to take action to convince high-flyers of their value to the firm.

　　2 Organisations need to look beyond the high-flyers they are currently developing.

　　3 There is a concern that firms investing in training for high-flyers may not gain the benefits themselves.

　　4 Managers need expert assistance from within their own firms in developing high-flyers.

　　5 Firms currently identify high-flyers without the support of a guidance strategy.

　　6 Managers are frequently too busy to deal with the development of high-flyers.

　　7 Firms who work hard on their reputation as an employer will interest high-flyers.

　　The Stars of the Future

　　A Existing management research does not tell us much about how to find and develop high-flyers, those people who have the potential to reach the top of an organisation. As a result, organisations are left to formulate their own systems. A more effective overall policy for developing future leaders is needed, which is why the London Business School has launched the Tomorrow's Leaders Research Group (TLRG). The group contains representatives from 20 firms, and meets regularly to discuss the leadership development of the organisations' high-flyers.

　　B TLRG recognises just how significant line managers are in the process of leadership development. Unfortunately, with today's flat organisations, where managers have functional as well as managerial responsibilities, people development all too often falls victim to heavy workloads. One manager in the research group was unconvinced by the logic of sending his best people away on development courses, 'only to see them poached by another department or, worse still, another firm'. This fear of losing high-flyers runs deep in the organisations that make up the research group.

　　C TLRG argues that the task of management is not necessarily about employee retention, but about creating 'attraction centres'. 'We must help line managers to realise that if their companies are known as ones that develop their people, they will have a greater appeal to high-flyers,' said one advisor. Furthermore, selecting people for, say, a leadership

　　development programme is a sign of commitment from management to an individual. Loyalty can then be more easily demanded in return.

　　D TLRG has concluded that a company's HR specialists need to take action and engage with line managers individually about their role in the development of high-flyers. Indeed, in order to benefit fully from training high-flyers as the senior managers of the future, firms must actually address the development of all managers who will be supporting the high-flyers. Without this, managers will not be in a position to give appropriate advice. And when eventually the

　　high-flyers do move on, new ones will be needed to replace them. The next challenge will be to find a new generation of high-flyers.

　　1、line managers 直属经理，业务经理

　　2、flat organization 扁平化的组织，即企业中的单层管理组织对应的单词hierarchy 等级制的公司

　　3、poach vt. (侵入他人地界)偷猎(或捕鱼), 水煮，剽窃，挖角

　　eg: A rival firm poached our best computer programmers.

　　我公司的竞争对手把我们最好的计算机程序编制员挖走了。

　　4、runs deep 纯粹是想说一下那句著名的谚语：Still water runs deep静水流深。

　　5、fall victim to 成为。。。。的受害者

　　6、retention 保留，在文中指留住员工。是风险管理中常见的专业名词。