(2019·北京高考)
Much of the work in today’s world is accomplished(完成)in teams. Most people believe the best way to build a great team is to gather a group of the most talented individuals. 1 Companies spend millions hiring top business people. Is their money well spent?
2 They focused on football, basketball and baseball. The results are mixed. For football and basketball, adding talented players to a team proves a good method, but only up to the point where 70% of the players are top talent; above that level, the team’s performance begins to decline. Interestingly, this trend isn’t evident in baseball, where additional individual talent keeps improving the team’s performance.
To explain this phenomenon, the researchers explored the degree to which a good performance by a team requires its members to coordinate(协调)their actions. 3 In baseball, the performance of individual players is less dependent on teammates. They conclude that when task interdependence is high, team performance will suffer when there is too much talent, while individual talent will have positive effects on team performance when task interdependence is lower. If a basketball star is, for example, trying to gain a high personal point total, he may take a shot himself when it would be better to pass the ball to a teammate, affecting the team’s performance. Young children learning to play team sports are often told, “There is no I in TEAM. ” 4
Another possibility is that when there is a lot of talent on a team, some players may make less effort. Just as in a game of tug-of-war(拔河比赛), whenever a person is added, everyone else pulls the rope with less force.
5 An A-team may require a balance—not just A players, but a few generous B players as well.
A. It’s not a simple matter to determine the nature of talent.
B. Sports team owners spend millions of dollars attracting top talent.
C. The group interaction and its effect drew the researchers’ attention.
D. Stars apparently do not follow this basic principle of sportsmanship.
E. Several recent studies examined the role of talent in the sports world.
F. Building up a dream team is more complex than simply hiring the best talent.
G. This task interdependence distinguishes baseball from football and basketball.
【文章大意】在当今的世界, 很多任务是靠团队完成的。但在运动团队中花费很多钱雇用顶尖队员是否可取?
1. 【解析】选B。考查上下文逻辑关系。前文是说“在当今的世界, 很多任务是靠团队完成的。但在一个伟大的团队中, 可能聚集了很多天才的个人”; 而后文说“公司花数百万雇用顶尖人才, 花那么多的钱值得吗? ”所填空处承上启下, 具体说一个例子, 比如说运动团队, 故选B。millions是关键词。
2. 【解析】选E。考查上下文逻辑关系。根据下文“They focused on football, basketball and baseball. ”, 故E项“最近几份研究核查了天才在运动界的角色”, 前后对应, 故选E。
3. 【解析】选G。考查上下文逻辑关系。根据下文“In baseball, the performance of individual players is less dependent on teammates. ”, 是说棒球主要靠个体, 而不是靠团队的力量, 棒球与足球和篮球不同, 故选G。individual是关键词。
4. 【解析】选D。考查上下文逻辑关系。根据上文“Young children learning to play team sports are often told”以及所举的例子, 本部分是说篮球是需要团队的力量的, 不突出个人, 故D项“显然, 顶尖队员并不遵守这种体育精神基本的原则”, 与前面相呼应。
5. 【解析】选F。考查上下文逻辑关系。根据后文“An A-team may require a balance—not just A players, but a few generous B players as well. ”可知, 建立一个理想的团队不仅仅需要顶尖运动员, 也需要二流运动员, 这是个复杂的过程, 不是仅仅雇佣几个天才就能解决的, 故选F。
