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 fiftysomething 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; 04/16/2001, p61;

注（2）：本文习题命题模仿对象2004年Text 1;

 

 

[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.

 

 

[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.

 

 

[A]solving the problems

[B]saving themselves

[C]getting out of the difficulty

[D]releasing one’s offensive feelings

 

 

[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.

 

 

[A]Team-building trips can solve the employee’s problems.

[B]Team-building trips are popular with many companies.

[C]There are risks, as well as rewards in the team-building trips.

[D]Employees are able to overcome the difficulty after the trips.

 

答案：CADBC

 

本文采用提出问题——分析问题的模式，指出“团队建设”旅行丰富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它新经济的兴存者进行的形式多样的旅行项目；第三段、四段和五段分别指出旅行者在不同形式的旅行中的收获和启示。

 

cubicle [5kju:bIk(E)l] n. 隔间，小卧室

rapport [rA5pC:(r); (?@) rA5pC:rt] n. 友好；和睦；友善，友好关系；和睦

be on [in] rapport with 跟...和睦相处

sky-high adv. 非常高地，极高地；高入云霄地

sky diving n.<美俚> 尽量延缓张伞的跳伞运动；天空蹦极

skydiving跳伞运动，高空跳伞特技表演(从飞机上跳下来并自由降落，在拉降落伞伞绳之前表演各种动作)

white-water rafting急流漂筏运动；滑水

caving n. 洞穴探险

purse string  n. 系钱袋口上的细绳；金钱

hold (control, tighten) the purse strings 控制[节省](家庭、公司等的)开支

loosen the purse strings 放松对钱的控制

hard times 市况萧条，市面萧条，不景气

working circle 施业区, 事业区，林区(按照特别经营计划经营的森林区域)

let off steam散发多余的精力; 发牢骚; 发泄郁积的情感

shake-up [5Feik5Qp] n. [俚]机构的大改组; 人员大变动

regatta[rI5^AtE] n. 赛船大会，划船比赛，赛舟会

landlubber [5lAndlQbE(r)] n. “旱鸭子”(指新水手, 不习惯航海、乘船的人)

set loose v. 出发, 使爆炸, 引起, 招致；(使)开始(做某事)

skipper [5skIpE(r)] n. 船长；运动队队长

run （take） a risk(s) 冒险

topple [5tCpl] vi.,vt. (高的东西)摇晃, 摇摇欲坠, 向前倒；推翻, 颠覆

camaraderie [kB:mE5rB:dEri:] n. [法]同志间的友谊与忠诚，同志情谊；友爱

off-site adj.不在现场的，离开事发地点的

light n. 见解，见识，眼光

Savvy [5sAvi] n. [俚]见识; 处世才能, 机智; 本领, 专门技能；adj. 精明的; 能干的; 有见识的

 

Notes:

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，为14000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。