Weaker customer loyalty forces companies to adopt customer relationship management systems.

A few years ago, when environmentalists in Washington State began agitating to rid local dumps of toxic old computers and televisions, they found an unexpected ally: Hewlett-Packard Co. Teaming up with greens and retailers, hp took on IBM, Apple Computer, and several major TV manufacturers, which were resisting recycling programs because of the costs.

Aided by hp's energetic lobbying, the greens persuaded state lawmakers to adopt a landmark program that forces electronics companies to foot the bill for recycling their old equipment. "This bill puts our market-based economy to work for the environment," said Washington Governor Christine O. Gregoire as she signed the plan into law on Mar 24. The movement to recycle electronic refuse, or "e-waste," is spreading across the nation, and so is hp's clout. The company helped the greens win a big battle in Maine,

In 2004 when the state passed the nation's first e-waste "take-back" law. Washington followed suit. Now, Minnesota and New Jersey are preparing to act, and 19 other states are weighing legislation. Activists hope to banish high-tech junk from landfills and scrub the nation's air and water of lead, chromium, mercury, and other toxins prevalent in digital debris, hp's efforts have made it the darling of environmentalists. They say take-back laws are more effective at getting digital junk recycled than point-of-sale fees, which tax consumer electronics products to fund state-run recycling programs. They're also pleased because effective programs in the U. S. reduce the likelihood that the products will be shipped to less developed countries and disassembled under unsafe conditions.

But hp's agenda isn't entirely altruistic. Take-back laws play to the company's strategic strengths. For decades the computer maker has invested in recycling infrastructure, a move that has lowered its production costs, given it a leg up in the secondary market for equipment, and allowed it to build a customer service out of "asset management," which includes protection of dam that might remain on discarded gear.

In 2005, hp recycled more than 70 000 tons of product, the equivalent of about 10% of company sales and a 15% increase from the year before. And it collected more than 2.5 million units (in excess of 25 000 tons) of hardware to be refurbished for resale or donation.

No other electronics maker has a resale business on this scale. But the others may soon wish to emulate hp. "We see legislation coming," says David Lear, hp's vice-president for corporate, social, and environmental responsibility. "A lot of companies haven't stepped up to the plate.... If we do this right, it becomes an advantage to us."

Environmentalists found an unexpected ally because ______.

A．hp has jointed with greens and retailers to rid local dumps

B．hp doesn't mind the huge cost of recycling old computers

C．hp has green retailers

D．IBM, Apple Computer don't want to cooperate with greens and retailers

The crisis urged Asian leaders to adopt ______ reforms.

Do Patients Trust Doctors Too Much?

Earlier this year, the American College of Surgeons, the national scientific and educational organization of surgeons, conducted a nationwide survey that found that the average patient devotes an hour or less to researching his or her surgery or surgeon. While prospective patients worry about the costs or complications of an operation, they don't necessarily look for information that would address their concerns.

In fact, more than a third of patients who had an operation in the last five years never reviewed the credentials of the surgeon who operated. Patients are more likely to spend time researching a job change (on average, about 10 hours) or a new car (8 hours) than the operation they are about to submit to or the surgeon who wields (支配) the knife. And many patients are satisfied with the answers they receive from their surgeons or primary care doctors, whoever those individuals happen to be.

I felt curious about the survey, so I called Dr. Thomas Russell, executive director of the American College of Surgeons. "There is a tendency for patients not to get particularly involved and not to feel compelled to look into their surgery or surgeons," he told me.

There are consequences to that kind of blind trust. "Today, medicine and surgery are really team sports," Dr. Russell continued, "and the patient, as the ultimate decision maker, is the most important member of the team. Mistakes can happen, and patients have to be educated and must understand what is going on. "

In other words, a healthy doctor-patient relationship does not simply entail good bedside manners and responsible office management on the part of the doctor. It also requires that patients come to the relationship educated about their doctors, their illnesses and their treatment.

"If we are truly going to reform. the health care system in the U. S. ," Dr. Russell said, "everybody has to participate actively and must educate themselves. That means doctors, nurses, other health care professionals, lawyers, pharmaceutical (制的) companies, and insurance companies. But most of all, it means the patient. "

Trust is important. But as Sir Francis Bacon, who was among the first to understand the importance of gathering data in science, once observed, knowledge is power.

According to the author, patients should spend more time

A．researching the American College of Surgeons.

B．researching their surgery or surgeons.

C．researching new cars.

D．researching job changes.

According to the article, to get customer information is considered to be

A．an effective marketing method.

B．easier if the company adopts a customer-driven business model.

C．an impossible task to accomplish by many companies.

D．difficult for a company writer an integrated view of customers.

A．She will do part-time jobs to cover it herself.

B．Her father will buy it for her as a gift.

C．She will pay it with her scholarship.

D．Her father will share the expenditure.

Space is a dangerous place, not only because of meteors (流星) but also because of rays from the sun and other stars. The atmosphere again acts as our protective blanket on earth. Light gets through, and this is essential for plants to make the food that we eat. Heat, too, makes our environment endurable. Various kinds of rays come through the air from outer,space, but enor-mous quantities of radiation from the sun are screened off. As soon as men leave the atmosphere

they are exposed to this radiation but their spacesuits or the wails of their spacecra{ts, if they are inside, do prevent a lot of radiation damage.

Radiation is the greatest known danger to explorers in space. The unit of radiation is called "rem" ("雷姆").Scientists have reason to think thata man can put up with far more radiation than 0. 1 rem without being damaged；the figure of 60 rems has been agreed on. The trouble is that it is extremely difficult to be sure about radiation damage--a person may feel perfectly well, but the ceils of his or her sex organs may be damaged, and this will not be discovered until the birth of deformed (畸形的) children or even grandchildren. Missions o{ the Apollo flights have had to cross belts of high radiation and, during the outward and return journeys, the Apollo crew accumulated a larger amount of rems. So far, no dangerous amounts of radiation bare been reported, but the Apollo missions have been quite short. We simply do not know yet how men are going to get on when they spend weeks and months outside the protection of the atmosphere, working in a space laboratory. Drugs might help to decrease the damage done by radiation, but no really effective ones have been found so far.

第 36 题 According to the first paragraph, the atmosphere is essential to man in that__

A．it protects him against the harmful rays from space

B．it provides sufficient light for plant growth

C．it supplies the heat necessary for human survival

D．it screens off the falling meteors

The alignment of producers of VHS-format VCR’s with producers of prerecorded videotapes is most similar to which of the following?

A．The alignment of an automobile manufacturer with another automobile manufacturer to adopt a standard design for automobile engines.

B．The alignment of an automobile manufacturer with an automotive glass company whereby the manufacturer agrees to purchase automobile windshields only from that one glass company

C．The alignment of an automobile manufacturer with a petroleum company to ensure the widespread availability of the fuel required by a new type of engine developed by the manufacturer.

D．The alignment of an automobile manufacturer with its dealers to adopt a plan to improve automobile design.

E．The alignment of an automobile dealer with an automobile rental chain to adopt a strategy for an advertising campaign to promote a new type of automobile

When Dana Hale adopted her son four years ago, she says she had to "play hardball" with her boss to get the same paid leave granted colleagues who give birth. The Washington employment lawyer knew then that if she and her self-employed husband adopted again, it would be under new management. So Hale began researching adoption-friendly workplaces, and soon focused on Capital One. The big financial-services company, headquartered in McLean, Va., offers $ 5,000 in assistance per adopted child, plus six weeks of paid leave. More important to Hale, the company fosters a supportive culture for adoptive parents, who network through a corporate intranet site. "I specifically chose Capital One so I could adopt more children," says Hale, 44, on the eve of a trip to Ukraine to bring home two teenage sisters.

Adoption has become an employment issue. Because more women delay parenthood to pursue careers during their prime childbearing years, some seek alternative avenues to build their families. With each adoption costing up to $ 30,000 and often demanding mounds of paperwork and weeks of travel, workers are asking their employers for help. They're getting it, mainly from companies in competitive industries hungry to attract and keep talent. Google, JPMorgan Chase, Abbott Laboratories, Avon and Motorola have all added adoption assistance to their buffet of benefits. In 1990, only 12% of 1,000 companies surveyed by Hewitt Associates offered financial assistance for adoption. By 2006, 45% of companies did. Rita Sorensen, executive director of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, estimates that in 2007 fully half of employers provide adoption benefits and that within five years those offerings will be considered standard.

Dave Thomas, founder of Wendy's, may have kicked off the trend 15 years ago when he began urging other CEOs to assist employees with adoption. Himself an adoptee, Thomas started his foundation to help find permanent homes for children in the US foster-care system. (More than 140,000 currently await adoption, according to Sorensen.) This year the foundation began tracking corporations and ranking them according to the generosity of their benefits. Of companies that provide adoption assistance, it found that $ 4,700 is offered on average per adoption and about double that if a child has special needs or is from foster care. Companies are also giving workers an average of five weeks of paid parental leave.

Even as employers retreat from providing expensive benefits like lifetime health coverage, they are finding that adoption assistance is relatively inexpensive—and yields disproportionately high rewards in employee loyalty, community goodwill and solid-gold p. r. Unlike maternity benefits, adoption assistance isn't covered by medical or disability insurance, meaning the entire cost must come directly from an employer's pocket. Still, only 0.5% of employees tap adoption benefits, but the assistance is so appreciated that workers gush about it to colleagues, spreading the warm, fuzzy corporate feelings. "Not to cheapen it, but it's cost-effective goodwill," says Sorensen, "one that doesn't hit the bottom line very hard. " Greg Rasin, a partner with Proskauer Rose who advises employers on benefits, points out that at the very least, the Families and Medical Leave Act compels employers with more than 50 workers to provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave. Legal bonus: offering adoption benefits might shield them from lawsuits by workers seeking parity with those who receive maternity leave.

Offering adoption assistance was an easy call for Steve Steinour, CEO of Citizens Financial Group and the father of two adopted children. "We knew from experience that for most Americans, adoption is an unaffordable option," he says. Citizens—a bank based in Providence, R. I. , with 25,000 employees—provides up to $ 21,000 in aid, a sum that helped put it at the top of the Dave T

A．DO P1

B．DO P1 WITH I

C．DO P1 HAVE I

D．DO P1 OWN I