英語沙龍十年合集珍藏版第三輯The flower effect
The flower effect
Miss Nancy had just got a secretary's job in a big company to work in the sales department．Monday was the first day she went to work，so she was very excited．She got up very early and arrived at the office a t twenty to eight．
She pushed the door open and found nobody there．“I am the first to arrive．”She thought and came to the desk which was to be hers．She was surprised to find a large bunch1) of flowers on it．They were fresh．She picked up the flowers from the desk and smelled them．“Oh，how lovely．”Miss Nancy cried joyfully．She then looked round for a vase to put them in．“Somebody has sent me flowers the very first day．”she thought happily．“But who could it be？”She began to wonder．
Just then，the manager came in．He greeted Miss Nancy good morning and caught the sight of the flowers on her desk．
“Like the flowers，Miss Nancy？”he asked．
“Yes，I like them very much．”She answered and looked into his face，expecting to find some clues．But the manager walked away to his own desk and began his work．
The day passed very quickly and Miss Nancy did everything with great interest and enthusiasm2)．During the lunch time，the manager sat with her at the same table，talking and joking freely while eating．
The colleagues3) were very friendly．Almost every one gave the new secretary a kind smile when they passed by．Nothing unusual，and nothing happened for the rest of the day．
For the following days of the week，the first thing Miss Nancy did was to change water for the flowers．And then she buried herself in her work．
Then came another Monday．That morning she arrived at the office at the usual time．When she came near her desk she was overjoyed4) to see a new bunch of flowers there．She quickly put them in the vase，replacing the old ones．
The same thing happened again the next Monday．Miss Nancy felt it strange and this time she began to think of ways to find out the sender．
Tuesday afternoon，she was sent to hand in a plan to the general manager's office．She had to stay for a while at his secretary's desk waiting for his directives5)．She happened to see on the desk a big note book marked “Minutes of managers' meetings”，and glanced at the half－opened pages．Suddenly her eyes fell on these words：“In order to keep the secretaries in high spirits，the company has decided that every Monday morning a bunch of fresh flowers should be sent to each secretary's desk．”
She looked up and saw right before her on the very desk，standing a vase6) of flowers just like hers．“Why didn't I notice it just now？”She was amazed．
Later，she was told that their general manager was a business management psychologist6)．
鮮花效應(yīng)
南希小姐剛剛在一家大公司找到了一份秘書的工作，她將在銷售部門上班。星期一是她上班的第一天，因此心情非常激動(dòng)。她早早起床，８點(diǎn)差２０分鐘就到了辦公室。
她推開門，發(fā)現(xiàn)里面沒人。“我是第一個(gè)到辦公室的。”她邊想著邊來到那張屬于她的辦公桌前。她驚異地發(fā)現(xiàn)桌上有一大束花。那是些鮮花。“啊，真漂亮。”南希小姐歡叫著，拿起桌上的花就聞。她四處看看想找一個(gè)瓶子插花。“第一天上班就有人給我送花，真是太好了。”她愉快地想道。“可是，是誰送的呢？”她開始琢磨起來。
正在這時(shí)，經(jīng)理進(jìn)來了。他向南希小姐道了聲早上好，一眼就看見了她桌上的花。
“喜歡這些花是嗎，南希小姐？”他問。
“是的，非常喜歡。”她一邊回答一邊察言觀色，指望能發(fā)現(xiàn)點(diǎn)什么?？墒墙?jīng)理已經(jīng)走到自己的辦公桌旁，開始工作了。
這天過得很快，南希小姐做每一件事都興致勃勃，充滿熱情。午餐時(shí)，經(jīng)理和她同坐一張餐桌，邊吃邊隨便談笑著。
同事們非常友好，幾乎每一個(gè)從她身邊走過的人都要向這位新秘書投以和藹的微笑。一切正常，一整天也沒出現(xiàn)什么情況。
在這個(gè)星期的后幾天里，南希小姐每天要做的第一件事就是給花換水，然后埋頭自己的工作。
又是一個(gè)星期一來到了。那天早上她同往常一樣來到辦公室。當(dāng)她走近辦公桌時(shí)，看到桌上放了一束新的鮮花，真讓她喜出望外。她很快就把這束新花換下了舊的插進(jìn)了瓶里。
在接下來的星期一又出現(xiàn)了同樣的情況。南希小姐覺得很奇怪，這一次她想調(diào)查一下這個(gè)送花人是誰。
星期二下午，她被派往總經(jīng)理辦公室去送交一份計(jì)劃。為了等總經(jīng)理的批文，她得在總經(jīng)理秘書的辦公桌旁呆上一會(huì)兒。她碰巧看到桌上放了一本寫著“經(jīng)理會(huì)議記錄”這幾個(gè)字的大筆記本，于是就瞥了一眼半開著的會(huì)議記錄內(nèi)容。突然，她的眼睛落在了這幾行字上：“為了使秘書們保持高昂的情緒，本公司決定，每星期一早上都要有一束鮮花送到每一個(gè)秘書的辦公桌上。”
她抬起頭來，看見就在眼前的那張辦公桌上，擺著一瓶和她的一模一樣的鮮花。“我剛才為什么沒注意到呢？”她有點(diǎn)迷惑。
后來有人告訴她，他們的總經(jīng)理是個(gè)企業(yè)管理心理學(xué)家。
NOTE 注釋：
bunch [bQntF] n. 串, 束
enthusiasm [in5Wju:ziAzEm] n. 熱心, 積極性
overjoyed [EJvE5dVCId] adj. 狂喜的, 極端高興的
directive [di5rektiv, dai5rektiv] n. 指示
vase [vB:z, veis] n. 花瓶, 瓶
psychologist [psaI`kClEdVIst] n. 心理學(xué)者
