首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
For office innovators, the unrealized dream of the "paperless" office is a classic example of high-tech hubris(傲慢). Today’s offi
For office innovators, the unrealized dream of the "paperless" office is a classic example of high-tech hubris(傲慢). Today’s offi
admin
2017-05-11
84
问题
For office innovators, the unrealized dream of the "paperless" office is a classic example of high-tech hubris(傲慢). Today’s office drone is drowning in more paper than ever before.
But after decades of hype, American offices may finally be losing their paper obsession. The demand for paper used to outstrip the growth of the US economy, but the past two or three years have seen a marked slowdown in sales — despite a healthy economic scene.
Analysts attribute the decline to such factors as advances in digital databases and communication systems. Escaping our craving for paper, however, will be anything but an easy affair.
" Old habits are hard to break," says Merilyn Dunn, a communications supplies director. " There are some functions that paper serves where a screen display doesn’t work. Those functions are both its strength and its weakness. "
In the early to mid-1990s, a booming economy and improved desktop printers helped boost paper sales by 6 to 7 percent each year. The convenience of desktop printing allowed office workers to indulge in printing anything and everything at very little effort or cost.
But now, the growth rate of paper sales in the United States is flattening by about half a percent each year. Between 2004 and 2005, Ms. Dunn says, plain white office paper will see less than a 4 percent growth rate, despite the strong overall economy. A primary reason for the change, says Dunn, is that for the first time ever, some 47 percent of the workforce entered the job market after computers had already been introduced to offices.
"We’re finally seeing a reduction in the amount of paper being used per worker in the workplace," says John Maine, vice president of a pulp and paper economic consulting firm. " More information is being transmitted electronically, and more and more people are comfortable with the information residing only in electronic form without printing multiple backups. "
In addition, Mr. Maine points to the lackluster employment market for white-collar workers — the primary driver of office paper consumption for the shift in paper usage.
The real paradigm shift may be in the way paper is used. Since the advent of advanced and reliable office-network systems, data storage has moved away from paper archives. The secretarial art of "filing" is disappearing from job descriptions. Much of today’s data may never leave its original digital format.
The changing attitudes toward paper have finally caught the attention of paper companies, says Richard Harper, a researcher at Microsoft. " All of a sudden, the paper industry has started thinking, ’We need to learn more about the behavioural aspects of paper use, ’" he says. "They had never asked, they’d just assumed that 70 million sheets would be bought per year as a literal function of economic growth. "
To reduce paper use, some companies are working to combine digital and paper capabilities. For example, Xerox Corp. is developing electronic paper: thin digital displays that respond to a stylus, like a pen on paper. Notations can be erased or saved digitally.
Another idea, intelligent paper, comes from Anoto Group. It would allow notations made with a stylus on a page printed with a special magnetic ink to simultaneously appear on a computer screen.
Even with such technological advances, the improved capabilities of digital storage continue to act against " paperlessness," argues Paul Saffo, a technology forecaster. In his prophetic and metaphorical 1989 essay, " The Electronic Pinata(彩罐)," he suggests that the increasing amounts of electronic data necessarily require more paper.
The information industry today is like a huge electronic pinata, composed of a thin paper crust surrounding an electronic core, " Mr. Saffo wrote. The growing paper crust "is most noticeable, but the hidden electronic core that produces the crust is far larger — and growing more rapidly. The result is that we are becoming paperless, but we hardly notice at all. "
In the same way that digital innovations have increased paper consumption, Saffo says, so has video conferencing — with its promise of fewer in-person meetings — boosting business travel.
"That’s one of the great ironies of the information age," Saffo says. "It’s just common sense that the more you talk to someone by phone or computer, it inevitably leads to a face-to-face meeting. The best thing for the aviation industry was the Internet. "
Which of the following is NOT a reason for the slowdown in paper sales?
选项
A、Workforce with better computer skills.
B、Slow growth of the US economy.
C、Changing patterns in paper use.
D、Changing employment trends.
答案
B
解析
细节题。文章第二段第二句说:过去,人们对纸的需求增长超过美国经济的增长速度,但在近两三年里,尽管有健康的经济局面,纸张销售却产生了明显下降”,因此B项正确。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/bJFO777K
0
考博英语
相关试题推荐
IhadvisitedthecapitalbeforealthoughmyfriendArthurhadnot,IfirstvisitedLondonasastudent,reluctantlyreleasedfr
Please____fromsmokinguntiltheaeroplaneisairborne.
Notuntilactuallyfacedwithwaterscarcity____appreciatethevalueofwatertoaregion.
ItisagreedthatallnationsshouldtakemeasuresagainstterrorismonthebasisoftheUN_____andotherinternationallaws.
Birdwingshaveamuchmorecomplexjobtodothanthewingsofanairplane,forinadditiontosupportingthebirdtheymustac
Thereisnodenyingthatstudentsshouldlearnsomethingabouthowcomputerswork,justasweexpectthematleasttounderstand
Employmentbecamewidespreadwhenthe17thand18thcenturiesmademanypeopledependentonpaidworkbydeprivingthemoftheu
Itmightbesupposedthatgreaterefficiencycouldbeachievedifseveralpeopleworkedtogethertosolveaproblemthanifonly
【T1】Determinedtomakeitonhisown,Bushdidnottellhisfatherthathewas’applyingtoHarvardBusinessSchool.【T2】The"Wes
Meteorologistsroutinelytelluswhatnextweek’sweatherislikelytobe,andclimatescientistsdiscusswhatmighthappenin1
随机试题
PASSAGETWO(1)ItwassaidbySirGeorgeBernardShawthat"EnglandandAmericaaretwocountriesseparatedbythesamelan
定量分析天平称取试样常用的方法有直接称量法、()、指定质量称样法。
社会解组理论认为,社会解组的形式有【】
下述哪种理解最正确( )
A.出生1~2天B.出生2~3天C.出生5~6天D.出生8~9天E.出生10天新生儿生理性黄疸出现的时间是
下列关于制图综合物体选取顺序的说法,错误的是()。
银行分析其外部环境时要考虑()。
当房地产开发项目受到外部市场环境威胁而内部状况又不好时,可以考虑采用()。
行政法规是国务院为领导和管理国家各项行政工作,根据宪法和法律,并且按照《行政法规制定程序条例》的规定而制定的各类法规的总称。我国行政法规的名称中,“规定”是指()。
设有表示学生选课的三张表,学生S(学号,姓名,性别,年龄,身份证号),课程C(课号,课名),选课SC(学号,课号,成绩),则表SC的关键字(键或码)为()。
最新回复
(
0
)