2020考研英语阅读理解精读100篇：Unit 29

Unit 29

Tanna Oldfield’s software company needed to establish rapport between some new hires and the firm’s old guard. She says the company, which is based in Austin, Texas, wanted to do something different—to “step out of the box”. So she asked her employees to step out of a plane. At 14,000 feet. Oldfield says the sky-high bonding exercise left the workers “exhilarated” and “more confident” in just one day. “If they could conquer fears about sky diving,” she says, “they could overcome work issues.”

Even in a climate of corporate cost-cutting, Oldfield’s company（she prefers that it remain unidentified） and many other New Economy survivors continue to invest money in training sessions that do not involve blackboards, computers or conference rooms. Instead, they send their employees on increasingly elaborate, and even risky, “team-building” trips. From white-water rafting to caving and rock climbing, corporate trainers are raising the difficulty level on challenges for the cubicle set.

Hard times may even persuade some companies to loosen their purse strings. Diane Katz, who has a doctoral degree in conflict resolution, says half the clients who go on her year-old Working Circle team-building exercises in Arizona are there because bosses want to reward them for good work. “People need to let off steam in harder times,” says Katz, who uses horse whisperers—who claim to speak to the animals, a practice popularized by Robert Redford’s movie “The Horse Whisperer”—as facilitators on singing trail rides in the Sonoran desert （the people sing, not the horses）.

After an office shake-up, Elizabeth Burg, a project coordinator for Visa U.S.A. in Foster City., Calif., staged a regatta to help employees learn how to work together in a new environment. A corporate training firm, Adventure Associates of El Cerrito, Calif., taught boating basics to Burg and 20 landlubber co-workers and then set them loose on 34-foot sailboats for a race on San Francisco Bay （with a professional skipper aboard each yacht, just in case）. “As adults, we don’t usually get to play in areas where we’re not experts,” Burg says. “People cooperated and interacted differently.”

After a reorganization last fall, DMR, a New Jersey-based telecommunications consulting firm, flew more than 100 employees of various ages to the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia for a four-and-a-half-day program run by the Outdoor Wilderness Leadership School. “I expected a total disaster,” recalls John Tedesco, a fifty-something sales executive. But after dangling 90 feet above the ground in a rope harness on a granite rock face, Tedesco learned to rely on much younger colleagues. “You’re taking risks you usually don’t deal with, and suddenly your co-workers are helping you,” he recalls. “Nothing has been the same since.” That’s because rugged outdoor challenges can topple rigid office hierarchies and encourage the sort of camaraderie often missing from traditional off-site work events. “You see people in a different light,” says Tedesco. And when the most junior employee turns out to be more wilderness-savvy than the CEO, everyone relaxes—except possibly the CEO.

注（1）：本文选自Newsweek；

注（2）：本文习题命题模仿对象为2004年真题Text 1。

1. What does Oldfield expect her software company to be rewarded by the trip?

A) A good spirit of confidence.

B) The ability to overcome difficulties.

C) A good relationship among the employees.

D) The courage to jump at a high height.

2. Which of the following is NOT the advantage of team-building excursions?

A) A good place to know your strong points compared with the CEO.

B) A good place to vent one’s feelings.

C) A good place to learn how to work together.

D) A good place to improve your exchange with colleagues.

3. The expression “let off steam”（Line 4, Paragraph 3） most probably means ______.

A) solving the problems

B) saving themselves

C) getting out of the difficulty

D) releasing one’s offensive feelings

4. What effect does a four-and-a-half-day program bring to John Tedesco?

A) A total disaster fell on him.

B) His ideas have been totally changed.

C) He cares about his colleagues.

D) He is dependant on his colleagues.

5. What can we infer from the text?

A) Team-building trips can solve employees’ problems.

B) Team-building trips are popular with many companies.

C) There are risks, as well as rewards in team-building trips.

D) Employees are able to overcome difficulties after the trips.

篇章剖析

本文采用提出问题—分析问题的模式，指出“团队建设”的旅行项目尽管有一定的危险，但是带给旅行者的收益却很大。第一段和第二段指出奥德菲尔德软件公司和其他新经济的幸存者进行的形式多样的旅行项目；第三段至第五段分别指出旅行者在不同形式的旅行中的收获和启示。

词汇注释

rapport /ræˈpɔː(r)/ n. 友好；和睦；友好关系

sky-high /ˈskaɪˈhaɪ/ adv./adj. 极高地（的）

sky diving 尽量延缓张伞的跳伞运动；天空蹦极

white-water rafting 急流漂筏；滑水

caving /ˈkeɪvɪŋ/ n. 洞穴探险

cubicle /ˈkjuːbɪk(ə)l/ n. 隔间，小卧室

hard times 市况萧条，不景气

purse string 系钱袋口上的细绳；金钱

loosen the purse strings放松对钱的控制

hold (control, tighten) the purse strings 控制（节省）开支

working circle 林区（按照特别经营计划建立的森林区域）

let off steam散发多余的精力；发泄郁积的情感

shake-up /ˈʃeɪkˈʌp/ n. 〈俚〉机构大改组；人员大变动

regatta /rɪˈɡætə/ n. 赛船大会，划船比赛，赛舟会

landlubber /ˈlændlʌbə(r)/ n. “旱鸭子”（指新水手，不习惯航海、乘船的人）

set loose 释放；把…放出来；（使）开始（做某事）

skipper /ˈskɪpə/ n. 【海】船长；运动队队长

take (run) risks 冒险

topple /ˈtɒpl/ vt. 推翻；颠覆 vi. 倒塌

camaraderie /kɑːməˈrɑːdəriː/ n. 〈法〉同志间的友谊；友爱

off-site /ˌɒfˈsaɪt/ adj. 不在现场的，离开事发地点的

light /laɪt/ n. 见解，见识，眼光

savvy /ˈsævi/ n. 〈俚〉见识；智慧 adj. 精明的；能干的；有见识的

背景注释

Visa U.S.A（维萨美国）：Visa U.S.A是一家业界领先的支付公司，拥有美国最大的支付系统，在发展新的支付手段和技术方面起着至关重要的作用。它为14,000家成员金融机构和持卡人提供服务，并为电子商务提供安全的在线处理方式。

难句突破

After a reorganization last fall, DMR, a New Jersey-based telecommunications consulting firm, flew more than 100 employees of various ages to the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia for a four-and-a-half-day program run by the Outdoor Wilderness Leadership School.

主体句式：DMR flew...employees...

结构分析：DMR是本句的主语，a New Jersey-based telecommunications consulting firm是DMR的同位语；flew是句子的谓语，需要注意的是flew在句子里用作及物动词，意思是“用飞机或飞行器运载、运输、运送”；run之前省去了which is。

句子译文：总部设在新泽西州的电信咨询公司——DMR在去年秋天重组以后，安排一百多名不同年龄的员工乘飞机到弗吉尼亚兰岭山参加由野外领导能力培训学校开办的为期四天半的培训课程。

题目分析

1. C 细节题。作者在文章开头就提出Tanna Oldfield’s software company needed to establish rapport between some new hires and the firm’s old guard.，正是出于想要融洽新、老员工关系的原因，奥德菲尔德才做出这件与众不同的事情。至于员工们感到exhilarated and more confident，那是这次旅行所带来的意想不到的收获。

2. A 细节题。选项B对应的信息在第三段：People need to let off steam in harder times；选项C对应的信息在第四段：...staged a regatta to help employees learn how to work together in a new environment；选项D对应的信息在倒数第一段：That’s because rugged outdoor challenges can topple rigid office hierarchies and encourage the sort of camaraderie...文章末尾提到在野外训练中CEO在某些方面还不如普通员工的现象是客观结果，但不是培训项目的主旨，所以选A。

3. D 语义题。本题主要是考查对习语let off steam的掌握。时世艰难，市况萧条，人们进行singing trail rides是要来“发泄他们郁积的情感”。

4. B 细节题。原文对应信息在倒数第一段：Nothing has been the same since.

5. C 推理题。文章第二段末提到这种野外活动even risky，接下来用实例证明了团队成员从中受益匪浅，故选C。

参考译文

塔纳·奥德菲尔德的软件公司坐落在得克萨斯州奥斯汀。该公司有意促进新员工和老员工之间和睦融洽关系的形成，按照她的说法，就是想要在此方面做些与众不同的事情——“走出小隔间”。于是在她的要求下，她的员工走出了飞机。奥德菲尔德说，在14,000英尺的高度进行这种高空蹦极，只需一天时间就能使员工“精神振奋”、“倍感自信”。她说：“如果他们能征服高空跳伞的恐惧，那么，他们也就能够克服工作中的难题。”

即使在公司费用削减的大环境下，奥德菲尔德的公司（她希望不透漏公司名称）和其他许多新经济的幸存者还继续在培训课程上投资。不过这些培训课程不使用黑板、计算机或会议室，而是一场精心安排的、有时甚至具有危险性的“团队建设”旅行。从急流漂筏到洞穴探险、攀岩，公司培训人员正在给这些在小隔间工作的人逐渐增加训练难度。

市况萧条甚至会使一些公司对财政的控制有所松动。持有平息冲突专业方向博士学位的黛安·卡茨说，她的“林区”团队建设训练项目设在亚利桑那州，至今已运行了一年时间。在她的客户当中，有一半的人来这儿参加培训是因为他们的老板以此作为对他们出色工作的奖赏。“在市况萧条时期，人们需要发泄郁积的情感。”卡茨如是说。在培训中，她利用马语者——这些人宣称能同动物交流，随着罗伯特·里德福德的电影《马语者》得到广为流传——来推动索诺兰沙漠骑马游歌活动的进行（当然是人唱，不是马唱）。

维萨美国（Visa U.S.A.）公司加州福斯特城项目协调员伊丽莎白·伯格在大规模重组办公室人员以后，发起了一次赛舟会以帮助公司员工学会如何在一个新环境里合作共事。一家培训公司——设在加州埃尔塞里托的冒险联合公司——对伯格和另外20名“旱鸭子”同事进行了划船的基本训练，然后让他们分别乘34英尺长的帆船（每艘船上配一名专业船长，以防万一）参加在旧金山海湾举行的赛艇比赛。“作为成年人，我们一般不习惯在我们不懂行的领域里玩”，伯格说，“每个人的合作和反应也都不一样。”

总部设在新泽西州的电信咨询公司——DMR在去年秋天重组以后，安排一百多名不同年龄的员工乘飞机到弗吉尼亚兰岭山参加由野外领导能力培训学校开办的为期四天半的培训课程。“我当时以为这绝对是一场灾难。”年逾半百的销售经理约翰·特戴斯克回忆道，但自从有了被岩壁上的绳索吊在离地面90英尺高的半空中晃来晃去的经历后，特戴斯克学会了如何依靠年轻的同事。“突然间，你遇到了你从未经历过的风险，而恰在此时，你的同事及时来帮你。”他回忆说，“打那以后一切都改变了。这是因为艰难的野外挑战可以消除严格的办公室等级制度，鼓励那种在办公室以外的传统活动中常缺乏的同事友情。特戴斯克说：“通常你都是以不同的眼光看待别人。”而当得知大多数低职位员工原来比首席执行官更精于野外生存时，每个人——可能除了首席执行官以外——都感到轻松了许多。