How did they disobey the laws of business physics, taking more time than competitors yet performing better? They thought differently about what “slower” and “faster” mean.Firms sometimes fail to understand the difference between operational speed (moving quickly) and strategic speed (reducing the time it takes to deliver value).Simply increasing the speed of production, for example, may be one way to try to reduce the speed difference.But that often leads to reduced value over time, in the form of lower-quality products and services.

　　In our study, higher-performing companies with strategic speed always made changes when necessary. They became more open to ideas and discussion.They encouraged new ways of thinking.And they allowed time to look back and learn.By contrast (相比而言), performance suffered at firms that moved fast all the time, paid too much attention to improving efficiency, stuck to tested methods, didn't develop team spirit among their employees, and had little time thinking about changes.

　　Strategic speed serves as a kind of leadership.Teams that regularly take time to get things right, rather than plough ahead full bore, are more successful in meeting their business goals.That kind of strategy must come from the top.

　　四川高考閱讀理解練習題目：

　　1.What does the underlined part “gain an edge” in Paragraph 2 mean?

　　A.Increase the speed.

　　B.Get an advantage.

　　C.Reach the limit.

　　D.Set a goal.

　　2.The underlined part “the laws of business physics” in Paragraph 3 means ________.

　　A.spending more time and performing worse

　　B.spending more time and performing better

　　C.spending less time and performing worse

　　D.spending less time and performing better

　　3.What can we learn from the text?

　　A.How fast a firm moves depends on how big it is.

　　B.How competitive a firm is depends on what it produces.

　　C.Firms guided by strategic speed take time to make necessary changes.

　　D.Firms guided by operational speed take time to develop necessary team spirit.

　　4.Which could be the best title for the text?

　　A.Improve quality? Serve better.

　　B.Deliver value? Plough ahead.

　　C.Reduce time? Move faster.

　　D.Need speed? Slow down.

　　四川高考閱讀理解練習答案解析：

　　1.B　詞義猜測題。許多公司都想選擇提速來獲取優勢，而不是達到極限或設定目標，故get an advantage正確。

　　2.D　細節理解題。由文中第三段第一句和第二句的含義：他們怎樣違反商業物理規則，比做得更好的競爭對手花了更多的時間?他們不同地看待更慢和更快的意思。可知商業物理規則應是用更少的時間做得更好。故選D項。

　　3.C　推理判斷題。文章主要講述了strategic speed的重要性，且在文中第四段第一句也說明了這一點：運用策略速度的公司往往在必要時作出改變。故選C項。

　　4.D　主旨大意題。文章圍繞speed 展開，且區分了operational speed 與 strategic speed，強調了后者的重要性，故D項正確。