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Working as a manager in the head office of a bank, as I do, clothes can be a nightmare. In
New York, where I worked for a time last summer, you have to brave the burning heat every
time you dare to go outside, yet freeze once you arrive in a meeting with the air-conditioner
turned up. I struggled to know what to wear. The problem was worsened by the office dress
code for the months of July and August, which was "dress-down".
The dress-down phenomenon seems to have begun in places where staff work through the
terrible heat of summer while their families take shelter at the coast or in the hills. Dress-down,
limited to Friday, allows staff to head straight for their out-of-town places on Friday evenings
without going home to change. But in New York it has now become a week-round state of
affairs. This move may have been born out of consideration; to allow people on Wall Street to
travel to work in the heat in something more comfortable than a suit, but the effect is less kind.
For me, dress-down is bad for two reasons. The first is that it actually requires a whole new
wardrobe. For my male colleagues in the US, it seemed to mean a switch from one uniform to
another. I basically only own two types of clothes; suits for working in and truly casual clothes
for relaxing weekends in the countryside.
Returning to London, I was therefore rather embarrassed to discover that my employers had
started summer dress-down. Here too, though its relevance to the climate is far from immediately
apparent. At first, I tried to sidestep it by simply turning up in my suit as usual, but my staff
complained that they then felt pressured into doing the same. So, I found myself having to buy "
smart casual" clothes specifically to wear to work; a ridiculous expense.
Even more annoying is the fact that I'm still required to have a suit hanging up in my office in
case I'm suddenly called to a meeting on our conference floor, where dress-down is banned for
fear that a client should witness it. One of my colleagues started to accumulate more and more
very smart suits in her office, explaining that she was having her flat renovated and that in-office
wardrobe was a necessity as she was staying at a different friend's place each night. We weren't
convinced.
For the other great inconvenience of dress-down for the staff is that it makes it easier than
ever to spot when colleagues are going to job interviews. For the rest of the year, it is easy enough
to arrange these during the working week, but in the summer when dress-down rules, it's a dead
giveaway to arrive in overly smart clothes and then go out for a "dental appointment". I would
normally applaud this state of affairs, as an important part of my time is spent trying to prevent
valued employees from moving elsewhere, and any clues about their intentions are helpful and
allow me to nip things in the bud(消灭于萌芽中).
However, the clothes hanging in my office are now finding a second use. I have suddenly
become the target for several "headhunters", people employed by other companies to try and
attract employees away with offers of better pay and conditions. The only problem with this is
that I have just the one suit at the office. As a series of interviews with one future employer
progresses, I'm having to bring in additional clothes. I can hardly present myself as a highly-paid
investment banker, requiring a vast salary, if they only ever see me in one suit. At this rate, I shall
have to tell my staff that I, too, have decided to have my flat done up.
1. According to the writer, "dress-down" in New York began as a way of ______.
A. making life easier for staff in the summer months
B. discouraging staff from taking summer holidays
C. showing concern for staff who lived out of town
D. rewarding those employees willing to work in the heat
2. What was the writer's first reaction to the idea of " dress-down" in her London office?
A. She argued against it.
B. She attempted to ignore it.
C. She recognized the need for it.
D. She persuaded her staff to adopt it.
3. Why does " dress-down" annoy the writer?
A. Not everyone obeys the rule.
B. Her clients find it embarrassing.
C. It does not apply on all occasions.
D. The clothes themselves do not suit her.
4. In which aspect of her work does the writer find "dress-down" an advantage?
A. Training new members of staff.
B. Providing her staff with some information.
C. Making sure that her staff remain faithful.
D. Making her staff feel more comfortable at work.
5. The underlined word "giveaway" in the sixth paragraph means_________.
A. something that is given away free.
B. willingness to stop doing something.
C. willingness to give away to the other's wishes.
D. something that makes it easy for you to guess something.
6. What can we infer from the last paragraph?
A. The writer wants to have her flat redecorated.
B. The writer is concerned about her dressing in the interviews.
C. The headhunters discovered the writer by her suit.
D. The writer feels it wrong to meet with the headhunters.
