题目内容
听力原文： A new enemy is threatening Japanese traditions: leisure. [29] As part of its attempt to increase imports, the government is trying to get people to work less and spend more. The workers are disgusted.
The figures support the western prejudice that the Japanese are all work and no play. Trying to force workers away from their desks and machines, the government said last April that the country should cut down from its 2,100 hours average work year to 1,899 hours and a five-day week. Beginning in February, banks and stock markets will be closed on Saturdays, staff of civil service will be forced out of their offices two Saturdays a month. The government hopes that others will follow that practice.
But some persuasion will be needed. Small companies are very angry about it and they fear competitors may not cut hours. The unions are no happier: they have even advertised in newspapers arguing their case against the foreign pressure that is forcing leisure upon them. [30] They say that shorter hours are a disguised pay cut. [31] The industrialists, who have no objection to the government's plans, admit that shorter hours will help them cut costs. Younger Japanese, who are supposed to be acting against their hard-working parents, show no sign of wanting time off either. But unlike older workers, they do spend money in their spare time. Not content with watching television, they dance, dress up, sit in caf6s, go to pop concerts and generally drive the leisure-industry boom. Now that they know how to consume, maybe the West can teach them to relax and enjoy themselves, too.
(30)
查看答案
搜索结果不匹配？点我反馈
更多问题
听力原文：M: Hello! I'm a senior student. Can you tell me whether this reference room is only for faculty members？
W: No, it's also open to the postgraduates, and undergraduates can come too if they've got professors' written permission.
Q: What does the woman tell the man about the reference room？
(16)
听力原文：M: You call Henry a dreamer, but I think he's got a lot of good ideas.
W: Well, good ideas are only useful if you make something out of them. I don't think a day-dreamer can be a good entrepreneur.
Q: What does the woman think of Henry？
(19)
The author holds the rise of prediction market depends on ______.
Section B
Directions: There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. You should decide on the best choice.
Not so long ago, prediction markets (市场预测) were being considered as a fantastic new way to forecast everything from the completion date of a vital project to a firm's annual sales. But although they have spread beyond early-adopting companies in the technology industry, they have still not become mainstream management tools. Even crazy advocates admit much remains to be done to convince doubtful managers of their value. "It's still a pretty blessing business, " says Leslie Fine of CrowdCast, one of the firms that provide trading platforms for companies keen to pool the collective wisdom of their employees.
Prediction markets work by giving people virtual trading accounts that allow them to buy and sell "shares" that correspond to a particular outcome. Shares in an outcome that is considered more likely to occur then trade at a higher price than those that represent a less likely outcome. This provides a way to approach the tacit (默许的) knowledge that exists in companies, especially ones that have many different divisions or offices.
Koch Industries, an American company in a range of businesses including chemicals, fertilizers and commodity trading, has been running prediction markets for the past nine months involving about 200 of its staff from different areas. The group, which has revenues of some $100 billion, has launched contracts on, among other things, the future prices of raw materials used in its chemicals division and the likelihood of bank nationalizations. Koch says the results so far have been pretty accurate compared to actual outcomes, but stresses that markets are complementary to other forecasting techniques, not a substitute for them.
A big obstacle facing managers using prediction markets is getting enough people to keep trading after the novelty has worn off. Many firms use gaming-style. leader boards to encourage internal competition, or offer modest prizes to the most successful traders. Lloyds TSB, a bank, launched a market in which participants identify the best new ideas by trading in a currency called Bank Beanz, which can then be exchanged for cash--a scheme the bank's head of innovation calls "an exceptional motivator".
Another reason prediction markets failed is that employees cannot see how the results are used, so they lose interest. Wells Fargo, a big bank that has been running internal markets for over a year to identify ways to improve service to some corporate customers, says its most effective tests took place in areas where managers could do something with their findings, making staff feel that trading was worthwhile.
Bosses may also be wary of relying on the judgments of non-experts. Yet many pilot projects run so far have shown that junior staff can often be surprisingly good forecasters. Perhaps the best way to find out when prediction markets will finally take off is to ask your employees--using a prediction market.
What does the author tell us about the prediction market in the passage？
微信支付 
支付宝支付