DOTCOMS may be moribund, but inside companies, the Internet is still finding cost-saving new uses. "B2E--business-to-employee--didn't have a crash," says Bipin Patel, in charge of developing the potential of the corporate intranet at the Ford Motor Company. "It's still growing."
Ford has gone further than most companies to get its employees online: it offered its American employees personal computers, and 90% of them accepted. Ford hopes that the free PCs will save its own and its employees' time by moving services online. General Motors, Ford's great rival, considered a similar scheme but found that most employees willing to use PCs already had them. It is helping staff to pay for high-bandwidth connections instead.
At Ford, the human-resources department has pioneered a scheme to provide up-to-the-minute information to employees about pay and benefits. In the past, employees sometimes found that it took weeks to get a copy of the pay information they needed to do their tax returns, and the department's staff spent mind-numbing hours answering the same questions from hundreds of different employees. Now employees can look at a password-protected site that displays their payslips over the previous 18 months. They can see all deductions, and the hours they worked. All this information was on the human-resources database: displaying it to employees has saved staff time.
"People want more and more of this self-service information, which they can manage themselves," observes Mr Patel. "There is no such thing as information overload here, because it's their information." Even training seems to work better online: Ford employees can now download a range of courses, including one on "Listening and Handling Tough Situations", all designed for digestion in ten- or 15-minute gobbets. The company claims to have cut training costs by $2m during the past six months, as fewer people leave their desks to learn.
The company also uses its intranet to communicate with its staff around the world. Jacques Nasser, Ford's boss, sends out "Let's chat" notes once a week. In fact, Mr Nasser does most of the chatting. He gets hundreds of e-mails in reply, but the communication is basically a one-way flow. The company also runs chatrooms, in which employees can question various inhouse experts and outside analysts live on the corporate intranet.
In time, thinks Mr Patel, communications technology will reshape corporate behaviour. It will encourage collaboration and team-working. Already, the Internet is causing disintermediation within companies, he argues, just as it did in e-commerce: the human-resources department does much less administration once the benefits system is more self-service, but rather more advising and consulting. One day, working in human resources might even be fun.
1. How does the author introduce his topic?
[A]Posing a contrast.
[B]justifying an assumption.
[C]Explaining a phenomenon.
[D]Making a comparison.
2. Why did Ford and GM intend to provide their employees with PCs?
[A]PCs can help them save a lot.
[B]B2E is a growing thing.
[C]The employees prefer to use PCs.
[D]Proving PCs is a way of competition.
3. Which of the following is not the advantage of internet?
[A]It can save time.
[B]It can save cost.
[C]It encourages collaboration and team-working.
[D]It makes human-resources department an easy job.
4. The expression “a one-way flow”(Line 3, Paragraph 5) most probably means __________.
[A]not encouraging open answers
[B]only one side asking questions
[C]only yes or no questions
[D]the topics lack variety
5. Which of the following is true according to the text?
[A]The Internet can help DOTCOMS come back to life.
[B]The courses downloaded are practical, but time-consuming.
[C]The internet makes the work of human-resources department more direct and interesting.
[D]The employees can manage all the information by themselves.
答案：CADBC
篇章剖析
本文介绍了一些公司如何借助国际互联网的形式来为公司节约时间、节省开支的。文章第一段指出电子商务形式B2E(“企业对职员”)仍然在发展；第二段指出福特和通用公司类似的做法，希望电脑能为他们节省时间；第三段、四段和五段指出互联网在福特公司的具体应用；最后一段指出互联网对公司行为模式的影响。
词汇注释
inside out 里子朝外的；完全地，彻底地
moribund [5mRrIbQnd; (?@) 5mC:r] adj. 即将结束的，濒临死亡的；即将灭亡的，垂死的；濒死的，不进步的
tax returns n. 纳税申报表
mind-numbing adj. 令人脑袋麻木的
payslip [`peIslIp] n. 工资单
gobbet n. 一片，一块(尤指生肉)；一点，少量
disintermediation n. 不干预，脱媒(非中介化)［一般是指在进行交易时跳过所有中间人而直接在供需双方间进行。］
Note:
B2E即“企业对职员”，它强调的是职员，而不是客户或者企业。B2E解决日益突出的IT人才短缺状况。从某种程度上来说，它使企业调动一切可能的因素来吸引和挽留高素质的IT人才，比如：大胆的创新理念、优厚的待遇、深造机会、灵活的上班时间、丰厚的奖金以以及职员授权策略等。
难句突破
Already, the Internet is causing disintermediation within companies, he argues, just as it did in e-commerce: the human-resources department does much less administration once the benefits system is more self-service, but rather more advising and consulting.
主体句式：the Internet is causing disintermediation within companies …
结构分析：本句的主句是”the Internet is causing disintermediation within companies”, “he argues”是插入语, 连词“as”的意思是 “如同,正如”, “did”指代的是“cause disintermediation”；冒号后的内容是对“just as it did in e-commerce”的解释说明。
句子译文：他论述说，正如电子商务中发生的脱媒现象一样—— 一旦津贴制度变得更加自助化，人力资源部所做的行政管理方面的工作会少得多，他们更多的是提供建议和咨询——互联网也正在导致公司之间的脱媒(非中介化)现象。
题目分析
1．答案为C，属事实细节题。本文通过阐述一种现象来引入话题。
2. 答案为A，属推理判断题。文章第一段指出网络公司(DOTCOMS)也许即将灭亡，但是在公司内部，因特网仍然是节省成本的新办法。第二段指出福特公司希望把一些服务性信息放到网上，能够节省公司及其员工的时间，通用汽车公司也效仿这一做法。由此我们可以看出节约时间、节约开支是这两个公司想要给其员工配备电脑的原因。
3. 答案为D，属事实细节题。文章中提到“the human-resources department does much less administration once the benefits system is more self-service,”，但这并不意味着人力资源部的工作会有所减轻，这只是工作形式有所改变，人力资源部将把更多的工作重心放在建议和咨询方面。
4. 答案为B，属猜词题。文章中提到多数情况下都是纳赛尔先生在聊天。他虽然收到回复的电子邮件有几百封，但基本上都是由他发问，别人来回答这种形式，因此这种交流是单向的。
5. 答案为C，属事实细节题。原文对应信息是“One day, working in human resources might even be fun.”。选项A在文中对应的正确信息是“DOTCOMS may be moribund”；选项B对应的正确信息是“all designed for digestion in ten- or 15-minute gobbets.”，它的意思是“所有这些课程的设计保证学员能在10至15分钟内消化理解。”；选项D对应的信息是“People want more and more of this self-service information, which they can manage themselves”，我们无法确定是否所有信息这些员工都能自行管理。
参考译文
网络公司(DOTCOMS)也许即将灭亡，但是在公司内部，因特网仍然是节省成本的新办法。 “B2E(“企业对职员”)并没有失败。” 福特汽车公司负责开发企业内部网潜力的拜平•帕特尔说，“相反，它仍然在发展。”
在说服员工上网方面福特比多数公司走得更远：它给它的美国员工提供个人电脑，而90% 的员工都接受了。福特希望把一些服务性信息放到网上，能够节省公司及其员工的时间。福特公司的主要竞争对手通用汽车公司已考虑实施相似的计划，但发现多数愿意使用个人电脑的员工已经有了电脑。因此，它正在帮助职员支付高速宽带连接费用。
在福特公司，人力资源部率先制定了一项计划，为员工提供有关薪水和津贴的最新信息。在过去，员工有时发现，他们要等上好几个几星期才能得到一张用于纳税的薪水信息的复印件，而人力资源部的职员却不得不晕头晕脑地花好几个小时来回答几百个不同员工提出的同样的问题。现在，职员们可以在密码保护的网站上查看他们过去18个月的工资单。他们可查看所有的扣除额、工作时间等信息。所有这信息都放在人力资源部的数据库里：把这些信息显示出来节省了员工的时间。
“人们越来越多地需要这类自助信息，而这些信息是他们自己就可以管理的。” 帕特尔先生说，“这里根本没有所谓的信息超载一说，因为这是他们的信息。”甚至在线培训也似乎进行得更好一些：现在，福特的员工从网上下载系列课程，其中包括一个有关“倾听和处理棘手情况”的课程。所有这些课程的设计保证学员能在10至15分钟内消化理解。公司声称，在过去的六个月里，培训费用减少了2百万美元，因为几乎没有人丢下他们的工作去学习。
公司还用公司的内部网与世界各地的员工进行通信联络。福特公司的老板雅克•纳赛尔每周发一个“让我们聊天”的帖子。实际上，多数情况都是纳赛尔先生在聊天。他收到回复的电子邮件有几百封，但交流基本上是单向的。福特公司还经营聊天室。员工们可在聊天室向在线做客的公司内的专家和公司外的分析人员提各种各样的问题。
帕特尔认为，通信技术最终将再造公司的行为方式。它将鼓励合作和团队精神。他论述说，正如电子商务中发生的脱媒现象一样—— 一旦津贴制度变得更加自助化，人力资源部所做的行政管理方面的工作会少得多，他们更多的是提供建议和咨询——互联网也正在导致公司之间的脱媒(非中介化)现象。总有一天，在人力资源部工作甚至会充满乐趣。