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In an essay entitled “Making It in America”, the author Adam Davidson relates a joke from cotton country about just how much a modern textile mill has been automated: The average mill has only two employees today, “a man and a dog. The man is there to feed the dog, and the dog is there to keep the man away from the machines.”
Davidson’s article is one of a number of pieces that have recently appeared making the point that the reason we have such stubbornly high unemployment and declining middle-class incomes today is largely because of the big drop in demand because of the Great Recession, but it is also because of the advances in both globalization and the information technology revolution, which are more rapidly than ever replacing labor with machines or foreign workers.
In the past, workers with average skills, doing an average job, could earn an average lifestyle. But, today, average is officially over. Being average just won’t earn you what it used to. It can’t when so many more employers have so much more access to so much more above average cheap foreign labor, cheap robotics, cheap software, cheap automation and cheap genius. Therefore, everyone needs to find their extra—their unique value contribution that makes them stand out in whatever is their field of employment.
Yes, new technology has been eating jobs forever, and always will. But there’s been an acceleration. As Davidson notes, “In the 10 years ending in , [U. S.] factories shed workers so fast that they erased almost all the gains of the previous 70 years; roughly one out of every three manufacturing jobs—about 6 million in total—disappeared.”
There will always be change—new jobs, new products, new services. But the one thing we know for sure is that with each advance in globalization and the I.T. revolution, the best jobs will require workers to have more and better education to make themselves above average.
In a world where average is officially over, there are many things we need to do to support employment, but nothing would be more important than passing some kind of G. I. Bill for the 21st century that ensures that every American has access to post-high school education.
21. The joke in Paragraph 1 is used to illustrate ___ .
[A] the impact of technological advances
[B] the alleviation of job pressure
[C] the shrinkage of textile mills
[D] the decline of middle-class incomes
22. According to Paragraph 3, to be a successful employee, one has to ___ .
[A] work on cheap software
[B] ask for a moderate salary
[C] adopt an average lifestyle
[D] contribute something unique
23. The quotation in Paragraph 4 explains that ___ .
[A] gains of technology have been erased
[B] job opportunities are disappearing at a high speed
[C] factories are making much less money than before
[D] new jobs and services have been offered
24. According to the author, to reduce unemployment, the most important is ___ .
[A] to accelerate the I.T. revolution
[B] to ensure more education for people
[C] to advance economic globalization
[D] to pass more bills in the 21st century
25. Which of the following would be the most appropriate title for the text?
[A] New Law Takes Effect
[B] Technology Goes Cheap
[C] Average Is Over
[D] Recession Is Bad
A century ago, the immigrants from across the Atlantic included settlers and sojourners. Along with the many folks looking to make a permanent home in the United States came those who had no intention to stay, and who would make some money and go home. Between1908 and 1915, about 7 million people arrived while about 2 million departed. About a quarter of all Italian immigrants, for example, eventually returned to Italy for good. They even had an affectionate nickname, “uccelli di passaggio”, birds of passage.
Today, we are much more rigid about immigrants. We divide newcomers into two categories: legal or illegal, good or bad. We hail them as Americans in the making, or brand them as aliens to be kicked out. That framework has contributed mightily to our broken immigration system and the long political paralysis over how to fix it. We don’t need more categories, but we need to change the way we think about categories. We need to look beyond strict definitions of legal and illegal. To start, we can recognize the new birds of passage, those living and thriving in the gray areas. We might then begin to solve our immigration challenges.
Crop pickers, violinists, construction workers, entrepreneurs, engineers, home health-care aides and physicists are among today’s birds of passage. They are energetic participants in a global economy driven by the flow of work, money and ideas. They prefer to come and go as opportunity calls them. They can manage to have a job in one place and a family in another.
With or without permission, they straddle laws, jurisdictions and identities with ease. We need them to imagine the United States as a place where they can be productive for a while without committing themselves to staying forever. We need them to feel that home can be both here and there and that they can belong to two nations honorably.
Accommodating this new world of people in motion will require new attitudes on both sides of the immigration battle. Looking beyond the culture war logic of right or wrong means opening up the middle ground and understanding that managing immigration today requires multiple paths and multiple outcomes, including some that are not easy to accomplish legally in the existing system.
26. “Birds of passage” refers to those who ___ .
[A] immigrate across the Atlantic
[B] leave their home countries for good
[C] stay in a foreign country temporarily
[D] find permanent jobs overseas
27. It is implied in Paragraph 2 that the current immigration system in the US ___ .
[A] needs new immigrant categories
[B] has loosened control over immigrants
[C] should be adapted to meet challenges
[D] has been fixed via political means
28. According to the author, today’s birds of passage want ___ .
[A] financial incentives
[B] a global recognition
[C] opportunities to get regular jobs
[D] the freedom to stay and leave
29. The author suggests that the birds of passage today should be treated ___ .
[A] as faithful partners
[B] with economic favors
[C] with legal tolerance
[D] as mighty rivals
30.The most appropriate title for this text would be ___ .
[A] Come and Go: Big Mistake
[B] Living and Thriving : Great Risk
[C] Legal or Illegal: Big Mistake
[D] With or Without : Great Risk
Scientists have found that although we are prone to snap overreactions, if we take a moment and think about how we are likely to react, we can reduce or even eliminate the negative effects of our quick, hard-wired responses.
Snap decisions can be important defense mechanisms; if we are judging whether someone is dangerous, our brains and bodies are hard-wired to react very quickly, within milliseconds. But we need more time to assess other factors. To accurately tell whether someone is sociable, studies show, we need at least a minute, preferably five. It takes a while to judge complex aspects of personality, like neuroticism or open-mindedness.
But snap decisions in reaction to rapid stimuli aren’t exclusive to the interpersonal realm. Psychologists at the University of Toronto found that viewing a fast-food logo for just a few milliseconds primes us to read 20 percent faster, even though reading has little to do with eating. We unconsciously associate fast food with speed and impatience and carry those impulses into whatever else we’re doing. Subjects exposed to fast-food flashes also tend to think a musical piece lasts too long.
Yet we can reverse such influences. If we know we will overreact to consumer products or housing options when we see a happy face (one reason good sales representatives and real estate agents are always smiling), we can take a moment before buying. If we know female job screeners are more likely to reject attractive female applicants, we can help screeners understand their biases—or hire outside screeners.
John Gottman, the marriage expert, explains that we quickly “thin slice” information reliably only after we ground such snap reactions in “thick sliced” long-term study. When Dr. Gottman really wants to assess whether a couple will stay together, he invites them to his island retreat for a much longer evaluation: two days, not two seconds.
Our ability to mute our hard-wired reactions by pausing is what differentiates us from animals: dog can think about the future only intermittently or for a few minutes. But historically we have spent about 12 percent of our days contemplating the longer term. Although technology might change the way we react, it hasn’t changed our nature. We still have the imaginative capacity to rise above temptation and reverse the high-speed trend.
31. The time needed in making decisions may ___ .
[A] vary according to the urgency of the situation
[B] prove the complexity of our brain reaction
[C] depend on the importance of the assessment
[D] predetermine the accuracy of our judgment
32. Our reaction to a fast-food logo shows that snap decisions ___ .
[A] can be associative
[B] are not unconscious
[C] can be dangerous
[D] are not impulsive
33. To reverse the negative influences of snap decisions,we should ___ .
[A] trust our first impression
[B] do as people usually do
[C] think before we act
[D] ask for expert advice
34. John Gottman says that reliable snap reactions are based on ___ .
[A] critical assessment
[B]‘‘thin sliced’’ study
[C] sensible explanation
[D] adequate information
35. The author’s attitude toward reversing the high-speed trend is ___ .
[A] tolerant [B] uncertain [C] optimistic [D] doubtful
Europe is not a gender-equality heaven. In particular, the corporate workplace will never be completely family-friendly until women are part of senior management decisions, and Europe’s top corporate-governance positions remain overwhelmingly male. Indeed, women hold only 14 percent of positions on Europe corporate boards.
The Europe Union is now considering legislation to compel corporate boards to maintain a certain proportion of women—up to 60 percent. This proposed mandate was born of frustration. Last year, Europe Commission Vice President Viviane Reding issued a call to voluntary action. Reding invited corporations to sign up for gender balance goals of 40 percent female board membership. But her appeal was considered a failure: only 24 companies took it up.
Do we need quotas to ensure that women can continue to climb the corporate ladder fairly as they balance work and family?
“Personally, I don’t like quotas,” Reding said recently. “But I like what the quotas do.” Quotas get action: they “open the way to equality and they break through the glass ceiling,” according to Reding, a result seen in France and other countries with legally binding provisions on placing women in top business positions.
I understand Reding’s reluctance—and her frustration. I don’t like quotas either; they run counter to my belief in meritocracy, governance by the capable. But, when one considers the obstacles to achieving the meritocratic ideal, it does look as if a fairer world must be temporarily ordered.
After all, four decades of evidence has now shown that corporations in Europe as well as the US are evading the meritocratic hiring and promotion of women to top position—no matter how much “soft pressure” is put upon them. When women do break through to the summit of corporate power—as, for example, Sheryl Sandberg recently did at Facebook—they attract massive attention precisely because they remain the exception to the rule.
If appropriate pubic policies were in place to help all women—whether CEOs or their children’s caregivers—and all families, Sandberg would be no more newsworthy than any other highly capable person living in a more just society.
36. In the European corporate workplace, generally ___ .
[A] women take the lead
[B] men have the final say
[C] corporate governance is overwhelmed
[D] senior management is family-friendly
37. The European Union’s intended legislation is ___ .
[A] a reflection of gender balance
[B] a reluctant choice
[C] a response to Reding’s call
[D] a voluntary action
38. According to Reding, quotas may help women ___ .
[A] get top business positions
[B] see through the glass ceiling
[C] balance work and family
[D] anticipate legal results
39. The author’s attitude toward Reding’s appeal is one of ___ .
[A] skepticism [B] objectiveness [C] indifference [D] approval
40. Women entering top management become headlines due to the lack of ___ .
[A] more social justice
[B] massive media attention
[C] suitable public policies
[D] greater “soft pressure”
21.答案： A
【考点】例证题
【对旳项精解】
第一段冒号后为笑话（joke）旳具体内容，冒号前about后接旳宾语从句阐明了笑话旳有关信息：现代纺织厂自动化旳限度（automated）。该例提到，一般工厂只有两个员工，一种是喂狗旳人，另一种是看机器旳狗。由此可知，工厂旳生产工作都是由机器自动完毕旳。自动化体现了科技进步，A中旳technological advances相应原文中旳automated，因此对旳。原文提及人是负责喂狗旳，但并没有说这个人旳工作压力与否得到缓和，且工作压力也非本文论述旳主题，故B错误。笑话中旳纺织厂员工很少，但并不意味着纺织厂旳规模就缩小了（由下文可知，工厂员工减少旳因素只是由于机器旳大规模使用），因此C不能选。第一段没有波及员工旳收入问题，D属于无中生有。
22.答案： D
【考点】细节题
【对旳项精解】
通过题干可以定位到文章第三段，由第三段旳最后一句话可知“人人都需要有过人之处，异于常人旳独特价值可以让她们在各自旳雇佣市场上脱颖而出”。题干中to be a successful employee 与第三段旳最后一句话中旳 that makes them stand out in whatever is their field of employment是同义替代，everyone needs to find their extra—their unique value contribution与[D]选项中旳contribute something unique是同义替代，因此[D]选项对旳。[B]、[C]两个选项与第三段旳倒数第二句话意思不符，是干扰选项。[A]选项与第三段旳第一、二句话意思相反，重点关注旳是But ,today ,average is officially over，意思是“现如今，拥有一般水平不行了”。
23.答案： B
【考点】推断题
【对旳项精解】
此题考察考生根据上下文中旳细节推断对旳信息旳能力。问题问第四段中旳引文解释了什么事情。文章第四段重点简介技术发展对人们旳工作机会旳吞噬。而引文特别指出：“截止，十年间（美国）工厂解雇工人旳速度是如此之快，以至于抹消了几乎过去70年里增长旳所有工作机会；大概每三个制造业旳工作就有一种消失了，总计大概600万个工作没有了。”由此可以推断出本题旳对旳答案应当是B：工作机会正在迅速消失。选项A：技术旳收益已经被抹杀了；选项C：工厂目前赚旳钱比此前少多了。文章中没有提到这两个内容。选项D：已经浮现了新旳工作和服务项目。这个内容与原文不符。因此这三个选项均为干扰项。
24.答案： B
【考点】事实细节题
【对旳项精解】
根据题干中旳reduce unemployment“减少失业”，可以定位到文章中最后一段，这段浮现了与之类似旳体现support employment“增进就业”。而题干表述the most important与最后一段中旳 nothing would be more important than相相应，根据最后一段：In a world where average is officially over, there are many things we need to do to buttress employment, but nothing would be more important than passing some kind of G. I. Bill for the 21st century that ensures that every American has access to post-high school education.意思是：这是一种“平庸”已正式落幕旳世界，为了增进就业我们尚有诸多事要去做，但是对于21世纪来说，没有什么比通过某些类似《军人安顿法案》这样旳法案更重要旳措施了，这样才干保证每个美国人都能有机会接受到中学后来旳教育。这就和选项B中旳to ensure more education for people“保证人民得到更多教育”旳意思吻合，因此，本题旳对旳答案是选项B。选项A加速信息技术产业变革，选项C增进经济全球化，均未提及，故排除。选项D是干扰项，虽提及要颁布更多法案，但颁布法案旳目旳实际是为了保障教育，因此选项D旳意思过于表面化，因此也可以排除。
25.答案： C
【考点】主旨题
【对旳项精解】
文章第一、二段通过笑话及引用当下文章旳观点指出技术旳进步使得工作岗位大大减少。第三段则论述在这种背景下，能力
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