2020考研英語閱讀理解精讀100篇：Unit 14

Unit 14

No one word demonstrated the shift in corporations’ attention in the mid-1990s from processes to people more vividly than the single word “talent”. Spurred on by a book called “The War for Talent”, written by three McKinsey consultants in the late 1990s, the word became common in management speak. Talent is a subset of what used to be called human resources, the people who work in organisations. It is, essentially, those individuals among that group who have the potential to add most value.

Behind the word lies the idea that more and more corporate value is going to be created by knowledge and by so-called “knowledge workers”. Manual labour is worth less; knowledge（and the right use of it） is worth more. And people with such knowledge are（so the theory goes）in short supply. One CEO was reported as saying that not only did he not have enough talent to carry out the company’s strategy, but he did not even have “the talent needed in HR to hire the missing managers”. Moreover, the situation is likely to stay that way（and may even get worse）for some time to come.

This has significantly shifted the balance of power in the recruitment process. Companies used to be relaxed about finding enough qualified people to run their operations. What they could not find they would train, was the usual attitude. That might take some time, but in a world where people sought jobs for life （and the pensions that went with them）time was in the company’s favour. But talent is not patient, and it is not faithful. Many companies found themselves training employees only for them to go on and sell their acquired skills to their rivals. So now they look for talent that is ready-made.

In their eagerness to please this talent, companies have gone to considerable lengths to appear especially attractive. They have, for instance, devoted a great deal of effort to the design of their websites, often the first port of call these days for bright young potential recruits. They have in many cases reconstructed their HR departments, in part so that they can tailor their remuneration packages more finely for the individuals that they really require. And they have altered their approach to issues such as governance and environmental responsibility because they know that many of the talented people they are seeking want to work for ethical and responsible employers—almost more than they want a hefty pay packet.

Talented people increasingly want to work in places where they can feel good about what they do for most of the day. What’s more, in today’s knowledge-based businesses, these young people are far more aware of their working environment, of “what’s going on around here”, than were their grandparents, who were hired for their brawn rather than their brain. It is harder for today’s businesses to disguise from their employees what they are up to—even when, as in cases such as Enron and WorldCom, they put a lot of effort into it.

注（1）：本文選自Economist；

注（2）：本文習題命題模仿對象為2004年真題Text 1。

1. According to Paragraph 1, corporations start to ______.

A) rely more on consultants from McKinsey or other consulting companies

B) emphasize the different subsets of human resources

C) highlight the quality of people in organization

D) focus on those who can add most value

2. The expression “talent”（Line 2, Paragraph 1）most probably means ______.

A) knowledge worker

B) human resources

C) people working in an organization

D) manual labourer

3. The following measures to attract talents are mentioned EXCEPT ______.

A) creating a dynamic work atmosphere

B) establishing a positive company image through fulfilling social responsibility

C) carefully designing company website, brochure, booklet, flyer, etc.

D) finding the balance of efficiency and equity in wage policies

4. Which of the following statements is an unexpected result of the shift of attention to talent?

A) Corporations can no longer stay relaxed when it comes to people recruitment.

B) Corporations face more supervision from employees against indecent corporate acts.

C) Corporations find it less worthwhile to hire people for their brawn than their brain.

D) Corporations encounter larger pressure in terms of environmental protection.

5. The best title for the text may be______.

A) Talent and Human Resources

B) The Evolution of “Talent”

C) Talent Management

D) How to Recruit the Best Talent

篇章剖析

本文主要介紹了現(xiàn)代公司的人才觀。第一段對“人才”一詞的本身含義做出解釋；第二段指出人才的價值及缺少人才的狀況；第三段介紹了公司人才引進策略的變化及其原因；第四、五段則說明了公司為引進人才而采取的各種具體措施。

詞匯注釋

spur /sp??/ v. 刺激；促進

consultant /k?n?s?lt?nt/ n. 顧問

subset /?s?bset/ n. 子集

recruitment /r??kru?tm?nt/ n. 招募，招聘，聘任

considerable /k?n?s?d?r?bl/ adj. 相當大的，相當多的

tailor /?te?l?/ v. 修改，使合適

remuneration /ri?mju?n??re???n/ n. 酬金，工資

ethical /?eθ?k?l/ adj. 倫理的，道德的

hefty /?hefti/ adj. 數(shù)額大的，有力的

brawn /br??n/ n. 發(fā)達的肌肉

disguise /d?s?ga?z/ v. 掩飾，假裝

難句突破

And they have altered their approach to issues such as governance and environmental responsibility because they know that many of the talented people they are seeking want to work for ethical and responsible employers—almost more than they want a hefty pay packet.

主體句式：They have altered their approach...

結(jié)構(gòu)分析：本句為因果關(guān)系復合句。主句主語為they，謂語為have altered。由because引導了一個原因狀語從句，從句的主要結(jié)構(gòu)是they know that+賓語從句，而賓語從句的主語為many of the talented people，謂語為want to...，其中包含了一個修飾talented people的定語從句they are seeking。破折號后面的部分是對該賓語從句的補充說明。

句子譯文：公司還改變了他們在管理方式和環(huán)保責任方面的策略，因為他們知道他們所需要的很多人才都愿意為有道德而且負責任的雇主工作——這一點幾乎比高薪還重要。

題目分析

1. C 細節(jié)題。第一段引出“人才”這一概念，“20世紀90年代中期，許多公司的重心從流程轉(zhuǎn)移到人，而沒有一個詞能夠比‘人才’更生動地描述這一變化?！弊詈笠痪湓掃€指出人才的重要性在于創(chuàng)造最大附加值的潛力。這些都說明公司的人力資源工作開始更加重視員工的質(zhì)量，C符合原文的意思。

2. A 語義題。第一段的最后一句話解釋了talent這個詞的意思，即人才是“有潛力創(chuàng)造最大附加值的人”，第二段第一句話承接上文說“這個詞背后隱藏著這樣一種理念，即越來越多的企業(yè)價值將由知識創(chuàng)造，由被稱為‘知識工作者’的群體創(chuàng)造”，因此可以把talent理解成knowledge worker。B和C是同一個意思，這在第一段里面有表述，而talent只是其中的一個子集。D指的是體力勞動者，與題意不符。

3. D 細節(jié)題。文章第四段提出了一些幫助公司招到優(yōu)秀人才的措施，比如設計有吸引力的網(wǎng)站，履行社會責任以樹立良好的企業(yè)形象，最后一段還提到了人才都很重視工作環(huán)境和氛圍，因此A、B、C選項在文中都有體現(xiàn)。第四段指出根據(jù)個體差異提供不同的薪酬待遇，但并未提到效率與公平性的結(jié)合，因此答案為D。

4. B 推理題。本題題干中“unexpected result”意為“出人意料的結(jié)果”，因此，文中明確表示的結(jié)果就不能入選。文中的最后一句話說“現(xiàn)在企業(yè)想要對員工隱瞞自己的所做所為是越來越難了”，也就是說現(xiàn)在企業(yè)比以前更難做壞事了，因為員工更加關(guān)注工作場所發(fā)生的事情，也會對企業(yè)起到監(jiān)督作用。這是如今引進優(yōu)秀員工帶來的結(jié)果，并非曾預料到的，所以答案為B。

5. C 主旨題。A的內(nèi)容只在第一段中提及，文中沒有具體涉及人才的演變，D只是最后兩段的內(nèi)容，無法概括全文。而全文主要是圍繞人才管理來展開全文的，故選C。

參考譯文

20世紀90年代中期，許多公司的重心從流程轉(zhuǎn)移到人，而沒有一個詞能夠比“人才”更生動地描述這一變化。20世紀90年代晚期，三位麥肯錫咨詢顧問撰寫了《人才戰(zhàn)爭》一書，促生了“人才”一詞，此后這個詞成為了管理用語中的常見用詞。人才是過去所說的人力資源的一部分，人力資源指的是組織中工作的全體人員。從本質(zhì)上來說，人才是組織團隊中有潛力創(chuàng)造最大附加值的人。

這個詞背后隱藏著這樣一種理念，即越來越多的企業(yè)價值將由知識創(chuàng)造，由被稱為“知識工作者”的群體創(chuàng)造。體力勞動的價值減少；知識（以及知識的恰當運用）的價值增加。具備這種知識的人（理論上說）十分稀缺。據(jù)報道，一位CEO曾說過，他不僅缺少足夠的人才來執(zhí)行公司戰(zhàn)略，而且缺少“人力資源方面的人才來招聘公司需要的經(jīng)理人”。而且，這種情況可能會持續(xù)一段時間（甚至變得更加嚴重）。

這種情況大大轉(zhuǎn)變了招聘過程中的力量平衡。過去公司不會去積極尋找可以支持公司運營的足夠人才。公司通常認為，如果找不到需要的人才，就可以通過培訓來滿足要求。那會花費一些時間，但過去人們都是尋找可以干一輩子的工作（并有養(yǎng)老金），公司有的是時間。但是人才沒有耐心，而且他們也不忠誠。許多公司發(fā)現(xiàn)，自己培養(yǎng)出來的員工往往會跳槽，帶著培訓獲得的技能投奔競爭對手。所以他們現(xiàn)在更青睞已經(jīng)成型的人才。

為了招徠人才，公司竭盡所能展現(xiàn)自身的吸引力。例如，他們在網(wǎng)站設計上下了很大工夫，因為近來，可能加入公司的青年才俊往往首先瀏覽公司網(wǎng)站。很多公司還對HR部門進行重組，部分目的是為了更好地針對公司真正需要的人才設計薪酬待遇。公司還改變了他們在管理方式和環(huán)保責任方面的策略，因為他們知道他們所需的很多人才都愿意為有道德而且負責任的雇主工作——這一點幾乎比高薪還重要。

人才越來越希望可以在讓自己幾乎一整天都過得舒適的地方工作。而且在當今的以知識為基礎的商業(yè)中，年輕人才比他們的祖父輩更加關(guān)注工作環(huán)境，關(guān)注“周圍發(fā)生的事情”。他們的祖父輩往往是體力勞動者而非腦力勞動者。現(xiàn)在企業(yè)想要對員工掩飾自己的所做所為是越來越難了，即使投入大量精力也難保不東窗事發(fā)，安然和世通公司就是前車之鑒。