時文閱讀|遠程辦公實驗
受新冠肺炎疫情影響，全球許多企業都推出了遠程辦公的臨時方案，遠程辦公一時受到廣泛地關注。斯坦福大 學教授尼古拉斯·布魯姆與攜程網合作開展了一次關於遠程辦公的實驗，探索遠程辦公對員工工作效率的影響。
閱讀短文並回答問題
Amid the COVID-19（新型冠狀病毒）crisis, working from home has become ordinary for many people. For some, working from home is distracting and exhausting. But one pioneering study found that working from home increased output by 13%. Nicholas Bloom, a professor at Stanford University in California,began the
experiment when James Liang, one of the founders of Trip.com Group — the largest online travel agency in China — met Bloom in Stanford and mentioned to him how expensive Shanghai housing was, how the costs of maintaining company headquarters there were huge and that he was thinking of letting his staff work from home. This idea made Bloom interested.
Bloom started to test Liang’s thought. First, 1000 employees who volunteered for the study were divided into two teams, separated by birthdates. Those born on even days got to work from home four out of five weekdays for the next nine months. Those born on odd days stayed in the office all week long. Then the two teams were tracked. It was easy to do, as these workers had repetitive, straightforward tasks that could easily be
quantified（量化）, and their productivity could easily be measured — making bookings in the system or making phone calls, for example. Nine months passed; Bloom and Liang discovered workers were 13% more productive at home.
Bloom’s data suggests the staff could become much more productive while working from home long term — but it’s not so straightforward. In the experiment, there were warnings as to who could take part in the first place. Participants had to meet three requirements: have no kids, have a room that wasn’t their bedroom and have quality Internet on equipment the firm installed for them at home. So there’s no guarantee that, say, parents working from home or those without access to fast Internet would see those productivity increases.
Lynda Grattan, a professor at London Business School, flags up other points; Bloom’s experiment was easy to carry out because it was essentially happening at a call centre. “We have no proper data on the productivity of knowledge workers when they’re based at home,” she says.
1. Why did Liang want to let the staff work from home?
A. To decrease the staff salaries.
B. To avoid the spread of COVID-19.
C. To prove the advantage of remote work.
D. To save the costs of working in the office.
2. How did Bloom conduct the experiment?
A. By giving questionnaires to all the staff.
B. By following the productivity of two teams.
C. By interviewing volunteers about their feelings.
D. By analyzing features of various working environment.
3. What can we learn from paragraph 3?
A. The experiment has attracted many volunteers.
B. The staff working at home always finish more tasks.
C. The speed of the Internet decides the productivity of workers.
D. Workers’ high productivity is based on suitable working conditions.
4. What does Grattan think of the experiment?A. It doesn’t apply to easy tasks.
B. It ignores the role of parents at home.
C. It needs further study for knowledge workers.
D. It inspires knowledge workers to work at home.
【參考答案】DBDC
生詞
1. crisis n. 危機
2. even adj. 偶數的 even days 偶數日
3. track v. 跟蹤（進展情況）
The research project involves tracking the careers of 400 graduates.
這個研究項目對 400 名畢業生的事業發展情況進行跟蹤調查。
4. productive adj. 生產力高的
5. say v. 比方說；假設
Let’s take any writer, say Dickens...
我們隨便舉一個作家為例，比如說狄更斯……
語塊
1. odd days 奇數日
2. without access to… 無法獲得……
3. flag up 使某人注意（某物）；指出
長難句分析
Nicholas Bloom, a professor at Stanford University in California, began the experiment when James Liang, one of the
founders of Trip.com Group — the largest online travel agency in China — met Bloom in Stanford and mentioned to him
how expensive Shanghai housing was, how the costs of maintaining company headquarters there were huge and that he was
thinking of letting his staff work from home.
【分析】該句為主從複合句，主句主幹為“Nicholas Bloom began the experiment”。“a professor at Stanford University in
California”為“Nicholas Bloom”的同位語，“when James Liang…staff work from home”為時間狀語從句；其中“James
Liang”為時間狀語從句的主語，“one of the founders of Trip.com Group”為“James Liang”的同位語，“the largest online
travel agency in China”為“Trip.com Group”的同位語，“how expensive…price was”、“how the costs of…there were huge”
與“that he was thinking…work from home”為賓語從句。
【翻譯】詹姆斯•梁是中國最大的在線旅行社攜程旅行網的創始人之一。他在加利福尼亞州斯坦福大學見到了尼古
拉斯•布魯姆教授，當他提到昂貴的上海房價以及維護公司總部的巨大成本使得他正在考慮讓員工在家工作時，尼
古拉斯•布魯姆就開始了這項實驗。
知識拓展
Trip.com Group
攜程旅行網是一家在線票務服務公司，創立於 1999 年，總部設在中國上海，其經營範圍包括酒店預訂、機票
預訂、度假預訂、門票預訂、差旅管理等。攜程旅行網已在北京、天津、廣州、深圳、成都、杭州、廈門等 17 個
城市設立分公司。2003 年 12 月，攜程旅行網在美國納斯達克成功上市。
原文選自 BBC，試題與內容講解由天學網教學研究中心編寫。
