Passage 2

Everybody telecommuting (远程办公). “It won’t work in most jobs”, “It costs too much”,“It reduces air pollution”,“It helps people balance family and work responsibilities”, and “Most people are doing it”.

In reality researchers continue to find strong growth and acceptance of telecommuting. Nearly two-thirds of the top 1000 companies in the world have a telecommuting program, and 92 percent say it reduces cost and improves worker productivity (生产力). The days of everyone commuting to the office five days a week are quickly disappearing.

Telecommuting involves a non-traditional work arrangement enabling workers to work at home or elsewhere, some or all of the time. This is not a new, novel, or untested way of working.

But is it for you? Telecommuting is not a panacea (万能药). Whether you are a manager, or an HR (Human Resources) specialist, there are decisions to make and actions to take before you begin a telecommuting arrangement.

Join us for any or all of the following meetings to get answers, information, and resources to develop and carry out a successful telecommuting arrangement. Each meeting offers you an informative presentation followed by the opportunity for a discussion with a panel of “experts” who have made telecommuting work for them.

16、How do people look at telecommuting according to the first paragraph?

社会营销追随着社交网络的趋势。(social marketing)

为方便大宗交易，公司打算使网站的界面更加人性化。(in bulk)

网络电子商务市场的这一增长必定会产生新的工作和商业机会。(generate)

你的网店如何与众不同?(differ)

给你的客户提供各种支付方式。(available)

E-commerce is coming of age, but not in the way predicted in the bubble years. (71.)[Now some of the dotcoms are making real profits, but the business world has become much more cautious about the internet’s potential.] The funny thing is that the wild predictions made at the height of the boom—namely, that vast chunks of the world economy would move into cyberspace—are, in one way or another, coming true.

(72.)[According to America’s Department of Commerce, online retail sales last year rose by 26%, to $55 billion.] That sounds a lot of money, but it amounts to only 1.6% of total retail sales. (73.)[The vast majority of people still buy most things in the good old “bricks-and-mortar”world.]

(74.)[But the commerce department’s figures deal with only part of the retail industry.] (75.)[For instance，they exclude online travel services, one of the most successful and fastest-growing sectors of e-commerce.] InterActiveCorp (IAC), the owner of expedia.com and hotels.com, alone sold $10 billion-worth of travel last year—and it has plenty of competition, not least from airlines, hotels and car-rental companies, all of which increasingly sell online.

If the package is wrapped well, we ______ (assume) the contents are also wonderful.

Customers are advised to make seat ______ (reserve) well in advance.

The need to talk to someone, anyone, ______ (overwhelm) her.

Cars must stop at red traffic lights; ______ (similar) bicycles should stop too, but they don’t always do so.