考研阅读精讲（七）（上）
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1 Ruth Simmons joined Goldman Sachs’ board as an outside director in January 2000; a year later she became president of Brown University. For the rest of the decade she apparently managed both roles without attracting much criticism.
高盛集团（Goldman Sachs），一家国际领先的投资银行，向全球提供广泛的投资、咨询和金融服务，拥有大量的多行业客户，包括私营公司，金融企业，政府机构以及个人。高盛集团成立于1869年，是全世界历史最悠久及规模最大的投资银行之一，总部位于纽约，并在东京、伦敦和香港设有分部，在23个国家拥有41个办事处。
But by the end of 2009 Mrs. Simmons was under fire for having sat on Goldman’s compensation committee; how could she have let those enormous bonus payouts pass unremarked? By February the next year Mrs. Simmons had left the board. The position was just taking up too much time, she said.
经营状况
If the sky, and the share price, is falling, outside directors should be able to give advice based on having weathered their own crises.
3 The researchers from Ohio University used a database that covered more than 10,000 firms and more than 64,000 different directors between 1989 and 2004. Then they simply checked which directors stayed from one proxy statement to the next. 连任
The most likely reason for departing a board was age, so the researchers concentrated on those “surprise” disappearances by directors under the age of 70.
They found that after a surprise departure, the probability that the company will subsequently have to restate earnings increases by nearly 20%. The likelihood of being named in a federal class-action lawsuit also increases, and the stock is likely to perform worse. The effect tended to be larger for larger firms.
Although a correlation between them leaving and subsequent bad performance at the firm is suggestive, it does not mean that such directors are always jumping off a sinking ship. Often they “trade up,” leaving riskier,
更上一层楼
smaller firms for larger and more stable firms.
4 But the researches believe that outside directors have an easier time of avoiding a blow to their reputations if they leave a firm before bad news break, even if a review of history shows that they were on the board at the time any wrongdoing occurred.
Firms who want to keep their outside directors through tough times may have to create incentives. Otherwise outside directors will follow the example of Ms. Simmons, once again very popular on campus.
21、According to Paragraph 1, Ms. Simmons was criticized for ______.
A. gaining excessive profits
B. failing to fulfill her duty
C. refusing to make compromises
D. leaving the board in tough times
参考答案：B
22、We learn from Paragraph 2 that outside directors are supposed to be ______.
A. generous investors
B. unbiased executives
C. share price forecasters
D. independent advisers
参考答案：D
23、According to the researchers from Ohio University, after an outside director’ s surprise departure, the firm is likely to ______.
A. become more stable
B. report increased earnings
C. do less well in the stock market
D. perform worse in lawsuits
参考答案：C
24、It can be inferred from the last paragraph that outside directors _______.
A. may stay for the attractive offers from the firm
B. have often had records of wrongdoings in the firm
C. are accustomed to stress -free work in the firm
D. will decline incentives from the firm
参考答案：A
25、The author’ s attitude toward the role of outside directors is ______.
A. permissive
B. positive
C. scornful
D. critical
参考答案：B
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