作為公事繁忙的上班族,休假或外出會議等事宜會不可避免地影響到回復(fù)重要的工作郵件,因此人們往往會選擇留下out-of-office信息——其目的就在于告知發(fā)郵件的對方靜待回復(fù)或是另請高明,避免耽誤緊急事項。然而在科技飛速發(fā)展的今天,傳統(tǒng)的out-of-office郵件似乎略顯過時,或許我們需要更聰明的方式來管理那些離開辦公室的時間?
測試中可能遇到的詞匯和知識:
merit 值得
hurdle 障礙
self-referential 自指的
affliction 苦惱
ruse 策略
plausibility 可信度
By Lisa Pollack
When Professor Randy Pausch took a month off work for his honeymoon,his boss at Carnegie Mellon University insisted that he be reachable. So he recorded a message for when people tried to call. On it he explained that he'd waited until 39 to get married. Then he gave the names of his new in-laws and the town they lived in,so a caller could get their number from directory assistance. Then,lastly: “If you can convince my in-laws that your emergency merits interrupting their only daughter's honeymoon,they have our number.”
I was thinking about this clever out-of-office notification as I tried to construct my own in email form. Prof Pausch's honeymoon message is a story from a more technologically innocent age — it was about 15 years ago,which is at least 100 in internet years. Back then,aside from the hurdles put in place by determined honeymooners,there were also plausible reasons to be out of touch. Now,technology is so good that it's ruined our favourite excuses for not being reachable. Writing that one has “limited” or “intermittent” access to email is usually no more than a declaration that one intends to be choosy about dealing with it.
But this is only half the story. The other is that technology,particularly when it comes to the out-of-office message,hasn't kept up. There's a robot that walks like a dog and cars drive themselves,so why don't we have smarter ways to manage time spent away from work?
An obvious improvement would be to add functionality to email clients that spreadsheet software has had for years: warnings that self-referential loops,aka “circular references”,have been created. This affliction hits parts of Europe especially hard in August. Person A is out of the office,please contact Person B if it's urgent. Person B says the same,refers emailer to Person C in an emergency. Person C refers to Person A. It is either a clever ruse or poor planning,but given that everyone is already emotionally and mentally,if not physically,out of the door when they set this up,it's probably the latter.
From this it logically follows that any new out-of-office technology would have to respect the fact that having high quality time off is a team effort. So one of the top features for development should be a warning that pops up when you're about to email someone from whom you've already received an out-of-office. The system will be smart enough to consider the dates that the holiday-maker said they were away in their email. This isn't my idea. It's covered by a US patent filed(grant pending)in 2006 that's owned by IBM.
I'd like it to go one further by having it hook up with an email scheduling service,giving you the option to forward the conversation to the well-slept sod on the day of their return in order to make absolutely clear that yes,they were right to wish that they could have just stayed in the Lake District forever.
Provided colleagues heeded the warnings,such functionality would be a boon to those of us who have poor self-control when it comes to unplugging from the Matrix. It would also,however,provide the added bonus of making it abundantly clear who the most and least helpful people are when we are attempting down time.
Perhaps in the year after the release of a new add-in to Gmail or Outlook that provides this tool,the survey for the 100 Best Companies to Work For could include a Jerk Index measuring the number of out-of-office notices heeded versus overridden.
The next new feature would generate a public plausibility score for a given out-of-office message. If the message says “intermittent access” but the person is replying to messages at a rate that implies that they want an excuse not to spend time with their family,their plausibility score would be near zero.
If the message says “no access” and the person replies to anything,this system will send them an image of US talk-show host Maury Povich along with the text: “Your out-of-office said that you wouldn't be replying to emails. The fact that you replied determined that was a lie.”
As for my own message,I decided on something non-committal. Until technology catches up,I might as well keep my options open. Oh,and I left Person B out of it. He's not in anyway.
1.What's the author's attitude towards the current out-of-office notifications?
A.Approving
B.Favorable
C.Discontent
D.Positive
[1] 答案
2.What have probably caused the circular references?
A.A Poor planning
B.A clever ruse
C.A purposely arranged trick
D.An unexpected accident
[2] 答案
3.Which of the following companies is mentioned as the owner of the patent of a new out-of-office technology?
A.Facebook
B.IBM
C.Apple
D.Google
[3] 答案
4.Which of the following is not mentioned as one of the features of the new system of out-of-office messages ?
A.Considering when the holiday-maker would return
B.Hooking up with an email scheduling service
C.Generating a public plausibility score for out-of-office messages
D.Providing backup plan for the email users
[4] 答案
[1]答案:C.Discontent
解釋:文章第三段作者提到她認為目前的out-of-office信息與科技發(fā)展的水平不符,希望有更加明智的方式解決這一問題,這說明她對現(xiàn)狀并不滿意。
[2]答案:A.A Poor planning
解釋:文章第四段作者提到這種繞圈式的互相推諉很有可能是源于內(nèi)部計劃的不完善而非刻意安排的策略。
[3]答案:B.IBM
解釋:文章第五段提到IBM在2006年提交了關(guān)于智能郵件的該項專利。
[4]答案:D.Providing backup plan for the email users
解釋:文章第五、第六和第九段分別提到該系統(tǒng)的特點包括智能確定度假者設(shè)定的回歸時間、和電郵日程服務(wù)連接以及為out-of-office信息可信度評分。