Passage One
Questions 46 to 50 are based on the following passage.
As many office workers adapt to remote work, cities may undergo fundamental change if offices remain under-utilized. Who will benefit if working from home becomes the norm?
Employers argue they make considerable savings on real estate when workers shift from office to home work. However, these savings result from passing costs on to workers.
Unless employees are fully compensated, this could become a variant of parasitic (寄生的)capitalism, whereby corporate profits increasingly rely on extracting value from the public—and now personal—realm, rather than on generating new value.
Though employers are backed by a chorus of remote work advocates, others note the loneliness, reduced productivity and inefficiencies of extended remote work.
If working from home becomes permanent, employees will have to dedicate part of their private space to work. This requires purchasing desks, chairs and office equipment.
It also means having private space dedicated to work: the space must be heated, cleaned, maintained and paid for. that depends on many things, but for purposes of illustration, I have run some estimates for Montreal. The exercise is simple but important, since it brings these costs out of the realm of speculation into the realm of meaningful discussion.
Rough calculations show that the savings made by employers when their staff works from home are of similar value to the compensation workers should receive for setting up offices at home.
What does this mean for offices in cities? One of two things may happen: Employers pass these costs onto employees. This would be a form of expropriation(侵占), with employees absorbing production costs that have traditionally been paid by the employer. This represents a considerable transfer of value from employees to employers.
When employees are properly compensated, employers’ real estate savings will be modest. If savings are modest, then the many advantages of working in offices—such as lively atmosphere, rapidity of communication, team-building and acclimatization (适应环境)of new employees—will encourage employers to shelve the idea of remote work and, like Yahoo in 2013, encourage employees to work most of the time from corporate office space.
46. What does the author say about working from home?
A) It will become the norm sooner or later.
B) It requires employees to adapt promptly.
C) It benefits employers at the expense of employees.
D) It will force cities to transform their infrastructure.
47. Why do some people oppose working from home?
A) It discourages team spirit. C) It undermines traditional values.
B) It invades employees’ privacy. D) It negatively impacts productivity.
48. Why did the author run the estimates for Montreal?
A) To provide convincing data for serious discussion.
B) To illustrate the ongoing change in working patterns.
C) To show the impact of remote working on productivity.
D) To exemplify how remote working affects the economy.
49. What can we conclude from the author’s calculations?
A) There is no point in transferring office work to working from home.
B) Employees can benefit as much from remote working as their employers.
C) Employers’ gain from remote working should go to employees as compensation.
D) effective measures should be taken to motivate employees to set up offices at home.
50. What is the author’s opinion on working from home?
A) It should be avoided if possible.
B) It is only a temporary measure.
C) It can reduce companies’ real estate costs.
D) It may affect employees’ corporate loyalty.
答案解析：
46. 由题干“What does the author say about working from home?”定位到第二段“Employers argue they make considerable savings on real estate when workers shift from office to home work. However, these savings result from passing costs on to workers.”及第三段“Unless employees are fully compensated, this could become a variant of parasitic (寄生的)capitalism...”，定位段提到在家工作使雇主节省开支，但成本转嫁给了员工，若员工未获充分补偿，则对员工不利，所以选C。
47. 由题干“Why do some people oppose working from home?”定位到第四段“others note the loneliness, reduced productivity and inefficiencies of extended remote work.”，定位段提到有人反对远程工作是因为其导致孤独、生产力下降和效率低下，所以选D。
48. 由题干“Why did the author run the estimates for Montreal?”定位到第六段“I have run some estimates for Montreal. The exercise is simple but important, since it brings these costs out of the realm of speculation into the realm of meaningful discussion.”，定位段提到作者对蒙特利尔进行估算，是为了将成本问题从猜测领域带入有意义的讨论，即提供有说服力的数据，所以选A。
49. 由题干“What can we conclude from the author’s calculations?”定位到第七段“Rough calculations show that the savings made by employers when their staff works from home are of similar value to the compensation workers should receive for setting up offices at home.”及第八段“Employers pass these costs onto employees. This represents a considerable transfer of value from employees to employers.”，定位段提到作者的估算表明，雇主节省的开支与员工应得的补偿价值相当，若成本转嫁则员工受损，所以应将雇主收益补偿给员工，所以选C。
50. 作者分析了远程工作对雇主和员工的影响，指出若未补偿员工，则成本转嫁构成剥削，并提到若补偿充分，办公室工作的优势将使雇主放弃远程办公，结合最后一段“When employees are properly compensated, employers’ real estate savings will be modest... encourage employees to work most of the time from corporate office space.”，定位句提到作者认为远程工作需以员工补偿为前提，否则不可持续，暗示其非理想选择，应尽量避免，所以选A。
