Evaluating the performance of the board

　　Few employees escape the annual or twice-yearly performance review. (0) .....G......The answer is

　　not a great number. And the smaller the company, the fewer checks there are on how well the

　　directors are doing. Some of the largest companies formally assess the performance of their board,

　　but very few new or growing companies have managed to get round to establishing any such

　　procedure.

　　Many business experts believe, however, that it is important for all companies to review the

　　performance of the board. (8) .............Another reason is that the board itself needs information on

　　how well it is doing, just as much as other employees do. For the chief executive, appraisal of

　　some sort is absolutely essential for his or her own sake and for the good of the company. Indeed,

　　many of those who have reached this level remark on how lonely the job of chief executive is and

　　how few opportunities they get to discuss issues relating to it.

　　There is some evidence to show that once smaller companies put a board appraisal process in

　　place, they find this process relatively easy to operate. (9) .............Their counterparts in larger

　　organisations, however, are often afraid that appraisals could be a challenge to their status.

　　So, how should companies assess their board? (10) .............At a very basic level,this could simply

　　mean getting all the directors to write down what they have achieved and how they can improve

　　on it. At the other end of the scale is the full '360-degree' appraisal. Here, each director is

　　appraised in a systematic manner by a combination of the chairman and fellow directors.

　　In the largest companies there are many methods for assessing the board. A number of such

　　companies have self-assessment schemes. The chairman may meet each board member

　　individually to ask how things are going, in a fairly informal way. The whole board might also

　　meet to talk about its progress in open session. (11).............These might ask for people's opinions

　　on the board's main tasks or on how well the committees are working.

　　Research indicates there has been some improvement in the way the appraisal of board members

　　is conducted. (12) .............The chairman will have been involved directly or indirectly in the

　　appraisal of all members of the board. Whose job is it, then, to appraise the chairman?

　　A It is often the case that the directors of such companies are even happy to receive criticism, as

　　this can prevent them from making basic mistakes.

　　B The rest of the workforce sees it as unfair if the directors are the only members of the company

　　to escape appraisal.

　　C These are encouraging as they put a limit on the power of the chairman to assess fellow

　　directors.

　　D Alternatively, questionnaires might be distributed to directors, forming the basis for future

　　discussion.

　　E One issue remains, however, when all the others have been dealt with.

　　F It is generally agreed that it is the chairman's responsibility to ensure the regular appraisal of

　　each member of the board.

　　G However, one wonders how many companies have in place a formal appraisal process for their

　　board of directors.

　　《Evaluating the performance of the board》，評(píng)估董事局的表現(xiàn)。眾所周知一個(gè)公司里面

　　是經(jīng)常對(duì)員工的表現(xiàn)進(jìn)行評(píng)估的，那么誰又來評(píng)估董事局的表現(xiàn)呢?這篇文章講了對(duì)董事局

　　表現(xiàn)進(jìn)行評(píng)估的重要性和一些方法。

　　第八題，前面說對(duì)董事局的表現(xiàn)進(jìn)行評(píng)估是很重要的。空格后面的句子中有another

　　reason，可見這個(gè)第八空應(yīng)該填入對(duì)董事局表現(xiàn)進(jìn)行評(píng)估原因的句子。B符合這一特點(diǎn)，為

　　什么要進(jìn)行評(píng)估，因?yàn)椤叭绻麤Q策層是公司唯一逃避評(píng)估的成員的話，其他的員工會(huì)視之為

　　不公平。”

　　第九題，前面說小公司會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)這種評(píng)估過程更容易操作。空格后面一個(gè)however，說大

　　公司的決策層會(huì)認(rèn)為評(píng)估是對(duì)他們地位的一種挑戰(zhàn)�？梢娺@個(gè)空格應(yīng)該填入表示小公司愿意

　　接受評(píng)估的句子。A符合這一特點(diǎn)：通常這些公司的決策層會(huì)很樂意接受批評(píng)，因?yàn)檫@可以

　　防止他們犯錯(cuò)誤。這里的such companies是個(gè)暗示，可以和前面的smaller companies對(duì)應(yīng)上。

　　第十題，前面問怎樣對(duì)公司的董事局進(jìn)行評(píng)估。那么很明顯，后面跟的句子應(yīng)該和評(píng)估

　　的方式方法有關(guān)。符合這一標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的只有F：一般認(rèn)為確保對(duì)董事局里每個(gè)成員的定期評(píng)估是

　　主席的責(zé)任。也就是說是依賴于主席進(jìn)行評(píng)估。responsibility是個(gè)關(guān)鍵詞。

　　第十一題。第五段依然是講評(píng)估的方法，具體的過程�？崭竦那懊嬲f主席可以單獨(dú)會(huì)見

　　董事局的每一個(gè)成員，或者是集體在一起談話�？崭窈竺嬲f這些可以詢問人們關(guān)于董事局主

　　要任務(wù)以及委員會(huì)的工作進(jìn)展情況的意見。ask for people’s opinion是個(gè)關(guān)鍵點(diǎn)，什么可以詢

　　問人們的觀點(diǎn)?調(diào)查。選D，questionnaires是個(gè)關(guān)鍵的暗示：或者，也許可以給經(jīng)理們分發(fā)

　　調(diào)查問卷，形成未來討論的基礎(chǔ)。

　　第十二題，這一空前面說有調(diào)查顯示對(duì)董事局成員進(jìn)行評(píng)估的方法有所改善�？崭窈竺�

　　來了一個(gè)疑問，提出沒有人評(píng)估主席。可見第十二題有轉(zhuǎn)折的意思，選E，有關(guān)鍵的連詞

　　however,而且E的one issue remains，正好對(duì)應(yīng)最后一段最后一句話的一個(gè)問題。內(nèi)容上也

　　吻合。