I'm taking a test and have to guess the right answer to the question after the article. Article: If sustainable competitive advantage depends on workforce skills, American firms have a problem. Human-resource management is not traditionally seen as central to the competitive survival of the firm in the United States. Skill acquisition is considered an individual responsibility. Labour is simply another factor of production to be hired--rented at the lowest possible cost--much as one buys materials or equipment. The lack of importance attached to human-resource management can be seen in the corporate management. In an American firm the chief financial officer is almost always second in command. The post of head of human-resource management is usually a specialized job, off at the edge of the corporate hierarchy. The executive who holds it is never consulted on major strategic decisions and has no chance to move up to Chief Executive Officer(CEO). By way of contrast, in Japan the head of human-resource management is central--usually the second most important executive, after the CEO, in the firm's hierarchy. While American firms often talk about the vast amounts spent on training their work force, in fact they invest less in the skills of their employees than do either Japanese or German firms. The money they do invest is also more highly concentrated on professional and managerial employees. And the limited investments that are made in training workers are also much more narrowly focused on the specific skills necessary to do the next job rather than on the basic background skills that make it possible to absorb new technologies. As a result, problems arise when new breakthrough technologies arrive. If American workers, for example, take much longer to learn how to operate new flexible manufacturing stations than workers on Germany (as they do), the effective cost of those stations is lower in Germany than it is in the United States. More time is required before equipment is up and running in production, and the need for extensive retraining generates costs and creates bottlenecks that limit the speed... Question: What is the position of the head of human-resource management in an American firm? Options: A: He is one of the most important executives in the firm. B: His post is likely to disappear when new technologies are introduced. C: He is directly under the chief financial executive. D: He has no say in making important decisions in the firm.
D
I'm taking a test and have to guess the right answer to the question after the article. Article: "Regardless of social class, race, age, men say they hate to shop," says Zukin, City University of New York sociology professor. " Yet when you ask them deeper questions, it turns out that they like to shop. Men generally like to shop for books , music and hardware. But if you ask them about the shopping they do for books or music, they'll say, ' Well , that's not shopping. That's research .'" In other words, what men and women call "buying things" and how they approach that task are different. Women will wander through several 1,000-square-meter stores in search of the perfect party dress. Men will wander through 100 Internet sites in search of the perfect digital camcorder. Women see shopping as a social event. Men see it as a special task or a game to be won. "Men are frequently shopping to win," says Ann, a marketing professor at Loyola University of Chicago. "They want to get the best deal. They want to get the best one, the latest one and if they manage to do that it makes them happy." "When women shop, they're doing it in a way that they want everybody to be very happy," says Ann. "They're kind of shopping for love." "Teenage girls learn to shop from their moms and older sisters, but they also learn to shop by examining articles in magazines like Seventeen." Zukin says. "And although men's magazines such as GQand Esquire have long had shopping articles, it's TV that has the eye of young male shoppers," says Ann and Zukin. "Of course, there are men who love to shop and are proud of it," Loyola's Ann says. And that is important no matter whether you buy a car or a frying pan. All men love to buy but they don't want to be cheated. Ann adds, "There actually are men who are interested, for example, in cooking or shopping or chinaware or things around their homes--they become kind of girl magnets. Women like it. " Question: As is known in this passage, teenage girls go shopping _ . Options: A: only with their moms B: only with their s C: often following magazines D: often following TV shows
C
I'm taking a test and have to guess the right answer to the question after the article. Article: A study published in September suggests there is a surprising way to get people to avoid unhealthy foods: change their memories. Scientist Elizabeth Loftus of the University of California at Irvine asked volunteers to answer some questions on their personalities and food experiences. "One week later," Loftus says, "we told those people we'd fed their answers into our smart computer and it came up with an account of their early childhood experiences." Some accounts included one key additional detail. "You got sick after eating strawberry ice-cream." The researchers then changed this detail into a manufactured memory through leading questions --- Who were you with? How did you feel? By the end of the study, up to 41% of those given a false memory believed strawberry ice-cream once made them sick, and many said they'd avoid eating it. When Loftus published her findings, she started getting calls from people begging her to make them remember hating chocolate or French fries. Unfortunately, it's not that easy. False memories appear to work only for foods you don't eat on a regular basis. But most importantly, it is likely that false memories can be implanted only in people who are unaware of the mental control. And lying to a patient is immoral , even if a doctor believes it's for the patient's benefit. Loftus says there's nothing to stop parents from trying it with their overweight children. "I say, wake up --- parents have been lying about Father Christmas for years, and nobody seems to mind. If they can prevent diseases caused by fatness and all the other problems that come with that, you might think that's more moral lie. Decide that for yourself." Question: What did Loftus find out from her research? Options: A: People believe what the computer tells them. B: People tend to forget their childhood experiences. C: People can be led to believe in something false. D: People are not always aware of their personalities.
C