Employees are being flooded with too much information that has little to do with their work, according to a new survey.

    On average, white-collar workers spend 51 percent of their work time receiving and processing information. Only one third of it was relevant to their work, the survey found. Information overload for white collar workers has become a global issue. The huge amount of information has already affected their efficiency in management as well as their performance at work.

    Buried with e-mails

    Every morning, a secretary at the human resources department of an auto parts company opens her e-mail box, only to find it crammed with at least 50 unread mails. For her, even scanning through these e-mails every day takes at least half an hour. Some of her colleagues are not so lucky — they have to read at least 100.

    Bothered with calls

    Telephone calls are also causing a problem. More than 40 percent white-collar workers chose mobile phones as the preferred way to communicate important and urgent business matters.

    Talking saves time and energy over the clicking, reading and replying to e-mails, but phone calls are also more distracting(分心的). While answering a call, a clerk is likely to put away a much more important task at hand and start the business being talked about on the phone.

      Solution? Not yet.

    Many companies start with providing staff with better computers, better Internet access and more advanced gadgets(装置). For example, staff members above a certain level in one company will be provided with a blackberry phone for easier access to their e-mails. The company has also organized many lectures on efficient ways of e-mail management. Yet most white-collar workers think their companies can do more.

1.What does the new survey find about white-collar workers?

    A．They spend 51% of their work time on meetings.

    B．Only half of the information they receive is useful.

    C．Over 60% of them prefer to use the telephone.

    D．Some of them have to read at least 100 e-mails every day.

2.Telephone calls cause a problem because ________.

    A．they take up the time to receive and send e-mails

    B．they are often not answered

    C．they are mostly not about business

    D．they may lead to the changing of work schedule

3.How do some companies try to solve the problem of information overload?

    A．They start to give staff a pay rise.

    B．They plan to employ more people.

    C．They provide employees with more advanced equipment.

    D．They organize lectures on how to reduce stress.

4.What is the major issue discussed in this text?

    A．Poor management leads to inefficiency at work.

    B．Junk mail is causing big trouble.

    C．White-collar workers suffer from information overload.

    D．Better computers are in need in workplaces.

Employees are being flooded with too much information that has little to do with their work, according to a new survey.
On average, white-collar workers spend 51 percent of their work time receiving and processing information. Only one third of it was relevant to their work, the survey found. Information overload for white collar workers has become a global issue. The huge amount of information has already affected their efficiency in management as well as their performance at work.
Buried with e-mails
Every morning, a secretary at the human resources department of an auto parts company opens her e-mail box, only to find it crammed with at least 50 unread mails. For her, even scanning through these e-mails every day takes at least half an hour. Some of her colleagues are not so lucky — they have to read at least 100.
Bothered with calls
Telephone calls are also causing a problem. More than 40 percent white-collar workers chose mobile phones as the preferred way to communicate important and urgent business matters.
Talking saves time and energy over the clicking, reading and replying to e-mails, but phone calls are also more distracting(分心的). While answering a call, a clerk is likely to put away a much more important task at hand and start the business being talked about on the phone.
Solution? Not yet.
Many companies start with providing staff with better computers, better Internet access and more advanced gadgets(装置). For example, staff members above a certain level in one company will be provided with a blackberry phone for easier access to their e-mails. The company has also organized many lectures on efficient ways of e-mail management. Yet most white-collar workers think their companies can do more.
【小题1】What does the new survey find about white-collar workers?

Over 60﹪of pupils in South African schools choose English for learning and teaching, but only 7﹪of pupils speak English as their home language, a recent South Africa survey shows.
Out of the country’s 12.2 million pupils only 851,536 speak English at home, yet 7.6 million pupils choose English as their favorite language of learning and teaching. Zulu is the most widely spoken home language, spoken by over 3.1 million pupils. However, less than a third of them choose to be taught in Zulu. The same thing is true of Pedi-speaking pupils, only a third of such pupils choosing to be taught in their home language. Besides English,
Afrikaans is the only language that has more pupils choosing it as their language of instruction than it has pupils who speak it at home. In primary schools, most pupils will choose African languages. As early as grade four, many would choose English or Afrikaans in their lessons.
The rising number of English-learning pupils is mainly caused by social and cultural reasons. English is the most common spoken language in official and public life in South Africa, the survey reports. In April 2011, the leaders of higher education and training said that they would take some steps to improve the university teaching and prevent the continuing decline of African languages. They suggested that in future every South African university student could be required to learn at least one African language in order to complete their studies at school

1. 1.

   We can learn from the passage that most South African pupils__________

   1. A.
      speak English both at home and at school
   2. B.
      are required to learn two languages at school
   3. C.
      choose English as their primary school language
   4. D.
      are expected to speak their native language at home
2. 2.

   It can be inferred from the passage that__________________

   1. A.
      Afrikaans is the most popular home language in South Africa
   2. B.
      it’s easier for South African pupils to learn Afrikaans at school
   3. C.
      the number of South African pupils learning Afrikaans has increased
   4. D.
      many South African pupils use Afrikaans at school instead of at home
3. 3.

   The underlined word “decline” in the last paragraph is closest in meaning to “_________”

   1. A.
      going downhill
   2. B.
      spreading widely
   3. C.
      growing upwards
   4. D.
      developing further
4. 4.

   What is the survey in the passage mainly about?

   1. A.
      The use of native languages in South African families
   2. B.
      The language choice and use among South African pupils
   3. C.
      The progress in South Africa’s language teaching education
   4. D.
      The spread of English at schools in South Africa