1.The following appeared in a memorandum from the head of a human resources department at a major automobile manufacturing company to the company‘s managers:

  “Studies have found that employees of not-for-profit organizations and charities are often more highly motivated than employees of for-profit corporations to perform well at work when their performance is not being monitored or evaluated. Interviews with employees of not-for-profit organizations suggest that the reason for their greater motivation is the belief that their work helps to improve society. Because they believe in the importance of their work, they have personal reasons to perform well, even when no financial reward is present. Thus, if our corporation began donating a significant portion of its profits to humanitarian causes, our employees’ motivation and productivity would increase substantially and our overall profits would increase as well.”

  【题目分析】

  通过对非营利(not- for-profit)组织员工激励因素的分析,文章将员工努力工作动因(greater motivation)归结为某种位公益服务的信念(the belief)。进而,建议赢利组织向非营利组织借鉴经验。原文推理线路(reasoning line)如下:

  ∵ not-for-profit: the belief à greater motivation (1)

  又∵ not-for-profit = for-profit (2)

  ∴ for-profit: the belief à motivation and productivity à more profit (3)

  【寻找错误】

  根据推理线路,可以针对三个推理过程,依次分三个层次来寻找错误:

  (1)非营利组织的因果推理(causality)存疑:非营利组织员工的工作动因可能来自于其他原因,而不只是某种信念。例如,非营利组织中 的固定员工也是实行薪酬制的,所以,他们积极工作的众多理由中,当然包括谋生,而且,相对于赚钱盈利而言,赈灾扶贫等花钱的工作还是相对容易的。

  (2)非营利组织与营利组织的可比性(comparability)存疑:即使该汽车制造公司将一部分利润投入公益,仍然不能回避这两种组织存 在的固有差异,导致经验不可借鉴。例如,营利组织的员工多为中青年人,生活压力大,需要更多的是利益驱动,来改善生活、养育后代;非营利组织的员工中的志 愿者多为老年人或者学生,生活压力较小,需要的是发挥余热或者学习经验。

  (3)营利组织的对未来草率预期(expectation)存疑:即使投资公益能够带来员工工作更加积极主动的结果,进一步认为这样就能提高整 体利润水平(overall profit)是没有根据的。因为利润等于收入减成本,而这两个变量从原文中无从得知,所以,有可能因为政府税率的提高,而使得利润降低或持平。

  GMAT作文题库,新增13道Argument题目。而这新增的13道题中,又有5道题都是同出一辙的类比(analogy)题目,占到了近一 半的比例。GMAT作文题库调整,明确的提示考生,类比题目在今后的GMAT考试中,仍然是重点题型。因此,参加GMAT考试的考生应该对类比题目给予足 够的重视,并进行充分的考前准备。

  在新增的13到Argument题目中,有5道依旧是类比类题目,占到新增题目近一半的比例,因此这次的GMAT作文题库调整明确的提示考生, 类比类题目在今日的GMAT考试中依旧扮演很重要的角色。因此,所有准备参加GMAT考试的考生应该给予足够的重视,做好充分的考前准备。