2009秋季高口Section 2第一篇文章解析

高口閱讀Section 2的第一篇文章相對于后面的文章而言比較簡單，這對穩定考生情緒是很有幫助的。第一篇文章主要是闡述在金融危機背景下公司的人力資源專家HR在下崗裁員這一敏感問題上所扮演的角色，所以這類文章依然是最近我們在新東方口譯課堂上反復強調的有關金融危機所帶來的種種社會問題的題材。

以下是對具體文章的解析和解題思路的分析。

Talk about timing. Your question arrived in our in-box the same day that we received a note from an acquaintance who had just been let go from his job in publishing, certainly one of the industries that is facing, as you put it, “extreme change.” He described his layoff as a practically Orwellian experience in which he was ushered into a conference room to meet with an outplacement consultant who, after dispensing with logistics, informed him that she would call him at home that evening to make sure everything was all right.

第一段以特寫類新聞體的常見手法，例子入手，引出了文章要討論的話題：如何對待下崗員工。碰到這種切入手法，出題者通常會在此安插一道例子功能題，Q1以Why…開頭+具體的例子，所以可以當即判斷是例子功能題，做此類題目一定要結合文章主旨才不會產生偏頗。

“I assured her I had friends and loved ones and a dog,” he wrote, “and since my relationship with her could be measured in terms of seconds, they could take care of that end of things.” “Memo to HR: Instead of saddling dismissed employees with solicitous outplacement reps,” he noted wryly, “put them in a room with some crockery for a few therapeutic minutes of smashing things against a wall.”

While we enjoy our friend’s sense of humor, we’d suggest a different memo to HR. “Layoffs are your moment of truth,” it would say, “when your company must show departing employees the same kind of attentiveness and dignity that was showered upon them when they entered. Layoffs are when HR proves its mettle and its worth, demonstrating whether a company really cares about its people.”

此段以While一詞引起，是對上述兩段例子的一個總結，引發出下面對下面一句話的思考“layoffs are your moment of truth.” Q2即是對這一句話的句意理解，通常我們講句意理解題當作這一段的段意總結，因為出題者所需要考生理解的句子多為抽象的引申主題的句子。

Look, we’ve written before about HR and the game-changing role we believe it can—and should—play as the engine of an organization’s hiring, appraisal, and development processes. We’ve asserted that too many companies relegate HR to the mundane busy-work of newsletters, picnics, and benefits, and we’ve made the case that every CEO should elevate his head of HR to the same stature as the CFO. But if there was ever a time to underscore the importance of HR, it has arrived. And, sadly, if there was ever a time to see how few companies get HR right, it has arrived, too, as our acquaintance’s experience shows.

這篇文章的篇章結構屬于指令文，用傳統的first-second-finally平行結構的方式引出了人力資源專家的三種角色，主題句就是在第一個平行結構First前的一句話。

So, to your question: What is HR’s correct role now—especially in terms of layoffs? （主題句）

First, HR has to make sure people are let go by their managers, not strangers. Being fired is dehumanizing in any event, but to get the news from a “hired gun” only makes matters worse. That’s why HR must ensure that managers accept their duty, which is to be in on the one conversation at work that must be personal. Pink slips should be delivered face-to-face, eyeball-to-eyeball.

Q4是對 “pink slips”一詞的理解，根據謂語動詞delivered我們可以推知必然是一封信件之類的物品，其次，這一段是在講如何以一種能為員工所接受的方式解雇員工，故可推出必然是一封解雇信。

Second, HR’s role is to serve as the company’s arbiter of equity. Nothing raises hackles more during a layoff than the sense that some people—namely the loudmouths and the litigious—are getting better deals than others. HR can mitigate that dynamic by making sure across units and divisions that severance arrangements, if they exist, are appropriate and evenhanded. You simply don’t want people to leave feeling as if they got you-know-what. They need to walk out saying: “At least I know I was treated fairly.”

Finally, HR’s role is to absorb pain. In the hours and days after being let go, people need to vent, and it is HR’s job to be completely available to console. At some point, an outplacement consultant can come into the mix to assist with a transition, but HR can never let “the departed” feel as if they’ve been sent to a leper colony. Someone connected to each let-go employee—either a colleague or HR staffer—should check in regularly. And not just to ask, “Is everything O.K.?” but to listen to the answer with an open heart, and when appropriate, offer to serve as a reference to prospective employers.

……

Three years ago, we wrote a column called, “So Many CEOs Get This Wrong,” and while many letters supported our stance that too many companies undervalue HR, a significant minority pooh-poohed HR as irrelevant to the “real work” of business. Given the state of things, we wonder how those same HR-minimalists feel now.

If their company is in crisis – or their own career – perhaps at last they’ve seen the light. HR matters enormously in good times.

It defines you in the bad.

總而言之，言而總之，只要考生能夠把握住Feature類型文章的寫作特點，謹記各類題型的解題技巧，第一篇文章大滿貫是沒有問題的。