2014年四川大學考博英語真題4

Passage Four

As Facebook dominates the news with its initial public offering,activists are seizing the moment to pressure the company to add some estrogen and ethnicity to its white-male board.

A women's rights group called Ultraviolet,which has been running an online petition that claims to have attracted more than 50,000 signatures,is escalating its push,posting a new YouTube video called"Do Women Have a Future at Facebook?".The video shows photos of successful women such as Hillary Clinton getting their heads cropped off the replaced with the smiling face of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

"Facebook has grown off the backs of women,who make up the majority of its users and are responsible for the majority of sharing and fan activity on the site,"the group says in a blurb accompanying the video.An all-male board,the group says,is"not just wrong,it's bad for business".A related campaign,called Face It,criticizes the lack of ethnic diversity on the seven-member board."seven white men:That's ridiculous,"the group says on its homepage,along side headshots of the men.The campaign,which lists dozens of human-rights groups and corporate executives as supporters,also has its own YouTube video.Called"Face it,Facebook",the video cites a recent Zuckerberg letter to investors that says:"Facebook was not originally created to be a company.It was built to accomplish a social mission-to make the world more open and connected."

That message is at[odds with]the pale-faced board,activists say.Susan Stautberg,co-chairwoman of Women Corporate Directors,an organization for female corporate board members,says Zuckerberg's thinking is flawed."If you're trying to expand a company globally,then you want someone on the board who has built a global brand,"she says."Most of these guys on Facebook's board all have the same skills-they're mostly from Silicon Valley and Washington.You want someone who has worked in China and India and rising markets.You want someone who has marketed to women.When you're putting together a board,you don't want your best friends,you want the best people."

Having zero female directors does not appear to be a good business plan,research shows.Companies with women on the board perform.substantially better than companies with all-mall boards,according to a 2011 study of Fortune 500 companies conducted by the research group Catalyst.The study showed that over the course of four to five years,companies with three or more female board members,on average,outperformed companies with no female board members by 84 percent when it came to return on sales and by 60 percent when it came to return on invested capital.

Facebook may secretly be on the lookout for a female board member,according to a recent Bloomberg report.Citing unnamed sources,Bloomberg said Facebook had enlisted the corporate-recruitment firm Spencer Stuart to help seek some diversity.Spencer Stuary says it does not comment on clients due to confidentiality agreements.

16．Which of the following descriptions is CORRECT about the Ultraviolet Group?

A．It is a non-government organization.

B．It is appealing for"more female roles in big corporations like Facebook"throughthe Internet.

C．It has the support of many female celebrities such as Hillary Clinton.

D．It is getting more and more support from the society.

17．Which of the following descriptions is INCORRECT about the campaign"Face It"?

A．It pointed out the irrational composition of Facebook's board of directors.

B．The campaign has plenty of human-rights supporters.

C．It indicated the original objective of Zuckerberg's establishment of Facebook.

D．It is constantly using other media devices to support Facebook.

18．The underlined phrase"at odds with"in the fourth paragraph has the closest meaning of ____.

A．a(chǎn)gainst all odds

B．supported by

C．disagree with

D．waifs and strays

19．According to Susan Stauberg,a well-performed business should _____.

A．have a complex system of management.

B．possess the most market globally.

C．have your best and close friends as your board members.

D．have a diverse board member in which everyone has his/her own specialties and can contribute different skills into the corporation.

20．What will probably happen to Facebook?

A．The corporation will turn to Spencer Stuart for recruiting more female board members.

B．The corporation will dominate the news because its worldwide popularity.

C．The corporation will gradually lose its users because it does not have female board members.

D．None of the above.

【參考翻譯】

隨著Facebook首次公開發(fā)行(ipo)在新聞媒體中占據(jù)主導地位，維權(quán)人士正抓緊時機向該公司施壓，要求其在白人男性董事會中加入一些雌激素和種族成分。

一個名為Ultraviolet的女權(quán)組織一直在網(wǎng)上發(fā)起請愿活動，聲稱自己已經(jīng)吸引了超過5萬個簽名。該組織正在加大力度，在YouTube上發(fā)布一個名為“女性在Facebook有未來嗎?”這段視頻展示了一些成功女性的照片，比如希拉里克林頓(Hillary Clinton)的頭被剪掉，取而代之的是Facebook創(chuàng)始人馬克扎克伯格(Mark Zuckerberg)的笑臉。

該組織在視頻附帶的簡介中稱:“Facebook已經(jīng)從女性的背后成長起來，女性占據(jù)了Facebook用戶的絕大部分，并且在該網(wǎng)站上負責大部分的分享和粉絲活動?！痹摷瘓F表示，全男性董事會“不僅是錯誤的，對企業(yè)也不利”。一個名為Face It的相關運動批評了由七名成員組成的委員會缺乏種族多樣性?！捌邆€白人:這太荒謬了，”該組織在其主頁上說，旁邊還有他們的頭像。這場運動將數(shù)十個人權(quán)組織和企業(yè)高管列為支持者，它也有自己的YouTube視頻。這段名為“面對現(xiàn)實吧，F(xiàn)acebook”的視頻引用了扎克伯格最近寫給投資者的一封信。它的建立是為了完成一項社會使命——使世界更加開放和互聯(lián)。

活動人士表示，這一信息與臉色蒼白的董事會存在分歧。女性企業(yè)董事協(xié)會(Women Corporate Directors)是一個面向女性企業(yè)董事會成員的組織，其聯(lián)合主席蘇珊•斯托伯格(Susan Stautberg)表示，扎克伯格的想法是有缺陷的。她表示:“如果你試圖在全球范圍內(nèi)擴張一家公司，那么你希望董事會中有人已經(jīng)建立了一個全球品牌?！盕acebook董事會中的大多數(shù)人都擁有同樣的技能——他們大多來自硅谷和華盛頓。你需要的是在中國、印度和新興市場工作過的人。你想要一個向女性推銷產(chǎn)品的人。當你組建董事會時，你不想要最好的朋友，你想要最好的人。

研究顯示，沒有女性董事似乎不是一個好的商業(yè)計劃。董事會中有女性成員的公司表現(xiàn)出色。研究機構(gòu)Catalyst在2011年對《財富》500強企業(yè)進行的一項研究顯示，該公司的表現(xiàn)明顯好于擁有全商場董事會的公司。研究顯示，在4到5年的時間里，女性董事會成員超過3名的公司，平均而言，在銷售回報和投資回報方面，女性董事會成員超過女性的公司分別高出84%和60%。

根據(jù)彭博社(Bloomberg)最近的一份報告，F(xiàn)acebook可能在暗中尋找一位女性董事會成員。彭博社援引未透露姓名的消息人士的話說，F(xiàn)acebook已經(jīng)聘請了企業(yè)招聘公司斯賓塞斯圖爾特(Spencer Stuart)幫助尋找多樣性。斯賓塞·斯圖里(Spencer Stuary)表示，由于保密協(xié)議的原因，公司不對客戶置評。

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