专家解析大学英语四级考试历年阅读真题(十四)

　　27. What can be inferred from Beth’s story?

　　A) Prejudice against women still exists in some organizations.

　　B) If people want what they deserve, they have to ask for it.

　　C) People should not be content with what they have got.

　　D) People should be careful when negotiating for a job.(B)

　　28. We can learn from the passage that ________.

　　A) unfairness exists in salary increases

　　B) most people are overworked and underpaid

　　C) one should avoid overstating one’s performance

　　D) most organizations give their staff automatic pay raises(A)

　　29. To get a pay raise, a person should ________.

　　A) advertise himself on the job market

　　B) persuade his boss to sign a long-term contract

　　C) try to get inside information about the organization

　　D) do something to impress his boss just before merit pay decisions(D)

　　30. To be successful in negotiations, one must ________.

　　A) meet his boss at the appropriate time

　　B) arrive at the negotiation table punctually

　　C) be good at influencing the outcome of the interaction

　　D) be familiar with what the boss likes and dislikes(C)

　　这篇文章讲的是职场加薪问题。开头先讲原始工资要求的提出更为容易(It is easier to negotiate initial salary requirement)，这是为了和下文所讲的加薪要求的提出作为对比，引出材料主要讨论的话题。第一段后面还有两句话，一是说如果你不提出加薪请求的话，获得理应得到的加薪机会就会大大减少(your chances of getting the raise…… are less)。二是说男人们更喜欢要求，而且得到的也多(Men tend to ask for more, and they get more)。要注意这一句中的men是复数形式，那么就应该指的是“男人”，而不是统称的“人”。与此对应，女人在要求加薪上可能就要消极一些。由此可以推断第一段最后一句中的Beth是一位女士。

　　下一段就开始以Beth的视角讲述她的职场遭遇。这些遭遇是对第一段提到的二点的证明。这一段句子很多，主要意思无非是男同事们一个个地连升三级，有了自己的办公室，而自己却一直苦守在最初的小隔间里。原因呢?在这段的开头就已经给出了：没有要求，就没有收获(I did not get what I wanted when I did not ask for it)。

　　下一段又恢复了第三人称视角，说到如果我们都能够自动获得与价值相当的加薪将是多么美好(It would be nice if we all received automatic pay increases equal to our merit)，但大多数公司并不如此美好，要想获得应得的加薪，最好还是自己提出申请。下文继续讲如何提出加薪要求。

　　最后四段讲了如何提出加薪要求的要点，其中前三段是准备工作，最后一段是即时提出要求时应采取的策略。首先，要拿业绩说话(Performance is your best bargaining chip)。这里需要注意的是要能够让老板看到你的表现值得加薪(be able to demonstrate that you deserve a raise)，另外提出要求的时机(Timing)也很重要，最好是在刚刚满足了老板的需求之后。

　　其次，信息也是讨价还价的筹码(Use information as a bargaining chip too)，要看看你在市场上能值什么价，看看别人会付给你多少钱。

　　最后一段实际上讲的是提出要求的勇气和策略。Go into the negotiations，这是个祈使句，有鼓励、打气的含义。而后面的use communication style(以交流的态度)说的是提出要求时的基本策略。

　　26. According to the passage, before taking a job, a person should ________.

　　A) demonstrate his capability

　　B) give his boss a good impression

　　C) ask for as much money as he can

　　D) ask for the salary he hopes to get