题目内容
In business, there's a speed difference: It's the difference between how important a firm's leaders say speed is to their competitive(竞争的) strategy(策略) and how fast the company actually moves. The difference is important regardless of industry and company size. Companies fearful of losing their competitive advantage spend much time and money looking for ways to pick up the speed.
In our study of 343 businesses, the companies that chose to go, go, go to try to gain an edge ended up with lower sales and operating incomes than those that paused at key moments to make sure they were on the right track. What's more, the firms that “slowed down to speed up” improved their top and bottom lines, averaging 40% higher sales and 52% higher operating incomes over a three-year period.
How did they disobey the laws of business physics, taking more time than Competitors yet performing better? They thought differently about what “slower” and “faster” mean. Firms sometimes fail to understand the difference between operational speed (moving quickly) and strategic speed (reducing the time it takes to deliver value).Simply increasing the speed of production, for example, may be one way to try to reduce the speed difference. But that often leads to reduced value over time, in the form of lower-quality products and services.
In our study, higher performing companies with strategic speed always made changes when necessary. They became more open to ideas and discussion. They encouraged new ways of thinking. And they allowed time to look back and learn. By contrast (相比而言), performance suffered at firms that moved fast all the time, paid too much attention to improving efficiency, stuck to tested methods, didn't develop team spirit among their employees, and had little time thinking about changes.
Strategic speed serves as a kind of leadership. Teams that regularly take time to get things right, rather than plough ahead full bore, are more successful in meeting their business goals. That kind of strategy must come from the top.
1.What does the underlined part “gain an edge” in Paragraph 2 mean?
A. Increase the speed. B. Get an advantage.
C. Reach the limit. D. Set a goal.
2.The underlined part “the laws of business physics” in Paragraph 3 means ________.
A. spending more time and performing worse
B. spending more time and performing better
C. spending less time and performing worse
D. spending less time and performing better
3.What can we learn from the text?
A. How fast a firm moves depends on how big it is.
B. How competitive a firm is depends on what it produces.
C. Firms guided by strategic speed take time to make necessary changes.
D. Firms guided by operational speed take time to develop necessary team spirit.
4.Which could be the best title for the text?
A. Improve quality? Serve better.
B. Deliver value? Plough ahead.
C. Reduce time? Move faster.
D. Need speed? Slow down.
书面表达
假设你应邀参加学校组织的“英语学习师生座谈会”,请你根据下表所提示的信息,用英语写一篇发言稿,简单介绍自己英语学习的情况,并对学校今后的英语教学提出建议。
自己英语学习的情况 | 1、英语学习的目标; |
2、英语学习的方法; | |
3、课外自学的途径; | |
…… | |
对学校英语教学的建议 | (请考生根据自己的经历与感想,提出两至三点建议。 |
注意:1、对所给要点逐一陈述,适当发挥,不要简单翻译。
2、词数100左右。开头和结尾已经写好,不计入总词数。
3、文中不得提及学生所在学校和本人姓名。
Dear teachers and schoolmates, it’s a great pleasure for me to be here today and share my experience of learning English with you.
Thank you for listening.