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(2019·扬、泰、南、淮、徐、宿、连三模)How many cabs in New York City? How many tears in a bottle of wine? These aren't just the lyrics (歌词) to a song by the Australian musician Paul Kelly.They are the kind of questions you are likely to be asked during a job interview.
In recent years, it has become common for bosses to ask interview questions that are impossible to answer.There is no right answer to these “brainteasers”．Instead, they are supposed to help an interviewer calculate an applicant's ability to reason.What matters is how you come to the conclusion, not what conclusion you arrive at.
Brainteasers started out in management consultancy firms.Young graduates hoping to join the company would be asked: “How many phone booths are there in Manhattan？” They weren't expected to blurt out (脱口说出) a random number — instead, they were expected to show they could solve even the most stupid problem.
As consultants swarmed across other organizations, they bought their inscrutable (难以理解的) questions with them.Now, people applying for a job in a call centre can expect to be asked how a nuclear power plant works.
While many bosses have great confidence in how good or effective brainteasers are, a research paper published in the journal Applied Psychology found they are useless for spotting the best candidate for the job.What they are great for is to make employers feel like intellectual giants.
The study's findings are not surprising.Studies have repeatedly found that most methods of selecting job candidates are hopelessly flawed (有缺点的)．Job interviews are among the worst way of picking the right person for the job.
The results of this research raise the question: if interviews are bad at picking the right person for the job, what are they there for? One feeling I have is that many job selection processes are thinly disguised (伪装的) forms of suffering, designed to make applicants feel worthless and boost the confidence of the person asking the question.
Think about the extensive list of personal skills required for even the most lowly entrylevel job.Or those painful assessment centres where you are supposed to play nice with people you are competing against to get the job.And then there are the firms that ask applicants to make a presentation to convey how awesome the firms are.All these exercises seem designed not to get the best person for the role, but to assure the boss how great they are, and remind you just how lucky you would be to get this boring job.
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Passage
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Supporting details
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Introduction
to
brainteasers
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·They are widely used in job interviews and the answers are (1)________ to interpretation.
·They focus more on an applicant's (2)________skills rather than the outcomes.
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(3)________
and
popularity of
brainteasers
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·They started out in management consultancy firms and spread to other organizations.
·Nowadays, a job applicant is often asked questions (4)________ to the job he applies for.
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Research
findings
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·(5)________ to popular belief of the bosses, brainteasers are actually useless for selecting candidates.
·They are just meant to show off the (6)________ of the employers.
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Indepth
Analysis
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·Many job selection processes make job applicants have a poor (7)________ of themselves and the employers more confident.
·Some job applicants are asked to show skills, some of which are (8)________ the requirements of a certain occupation.
·In some assessment centres, job applicants are required to play nice with their (9)________．
·Some job applicants are supposed to make a presentation to (10)________ the firms.
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语篇解读：本文主要讲述了一些公司在招聘新的员工的时候，所问的一些与应聘的岗位没有太大的关系的、让求职者感到闹心的问题。
1．open/subjective/left 根据第二段第二句“There is no right answer to these ‘brainteasers’．”可知，这些脑筋急转弯的问题没有正确的答案，所以说答案是开放的，或者主观的。
2．reasoning 根据第二段第三、四句“Instead, they are supposed to help an interviewer calculate an applicant's ability to reason.”可知，这些问题考查受试者的推理能力。
3．Origin/Beginning/Start 文章第三、四段讲了brainteasers的起源和广泛应用。
4．irrelevant/unrelated/unconnected 根据第四段最后一句“Now, people applying for a job in a call centre can expect to be asked how a nuclear power plant works.”可知，一个申请呼叫中心工作的人可能会被问道核能源工厂如何工作。也就是被问到和职业不相关的问题。
5．Contrary 第五段讲研究发现这类问题和老板们的相反，在选拔人才时并不能起到太大的作用。Contrary to ...“与……相反”。
6．intelligence/wisdom/knowledge/greatness/excellence 根据第五段最后一句“What they are great for is to make employers feel like intellectual giants.”可知，问这些问题最大的好处就在于让雇主感觉自己像个智力巨人。所以说面试官问这些问题是为了炫耀自己的智商。
7．assessment/evaluation/opinion/image 根据第七段最后一句“...to make applicants feel worthless ...”可知，这样的面试旨在让求职者觉得自己一文不值，使求职者对自己的评价很差。
8．beyond 根据最后一段第一句“Think about the extensive list of personal skills required for even the most lowly entrylevel job.”可知，最低级的入门级工作应该不需要这么多的个人技能，可见有些要求已经远远超过了这个职位的需要。beyond“超越”。
9．competitors/rivals/opponents 根据最后一段第二句“Or those painful assessment centres where you are supposed to play nice with people you are competing against to get the job.”可知答案。
10．praise/applaud 根据最后一段倒数第二句“And then there are the firms that ask applicants to make a presentation to convey how awesome the firms are.”还有一些公司要求申请者做一个演讲来表达公司有多棒。也就是要让求职者来表扬这家公司。
