阅读理解
A union-backed campaign conducted scattered protests and employee walkouts at fast-food chains in 60 cities in an effort to ramp up pressure for increased wages while organizers are quietly working to create unions to represent fast-food workers. The impact and size of Thursday's protests was difficult to gauge. Spokesmen for the protests' organizers estimated that they involved 1,000 fast-food outlets, and some other retailers, such as department stores, and claimed that walkouts shut down some restaurants.
McDonald's Corp. and Wendy's Co. said the protests had minimal effects on operations and that they were unaware of any shutdowns. At midday Thursday in downtown Chicago, one of the cities targeted, several outlets of both chains seemed undisturbed. People protested outside one Chicago McDonald's for about 45 minutes; a restaurant employee reached by phone, who didn't want to be identified, said none of the protesters were employed there. Burger King Worldwide Inc. didn't respond to requests for comment.
Workers marching outside fast-food restaurants have called for the chains to increase wages to $15 an hour—wages now can be as low as the national minimum of $7.25 an hour and to allow a "fair process" to join a union. The restaurant companies say they pay fair and competitive wages and that increases of that size would force owners to cut staff.
Previous strikes have targeted fast-food chains in more than a dozen cities from New York to Seattle. The chains have said those strikes also didn't cause significant disruptions. But the momentum of demonstrations is unusual in an industry where organizing has been difficult because of high employee turnover.
The protests come as the Service Employees International Union in recent months has helped establish a new union in at least six cities where the union and community advocacy groups have been organizing fast-food strikes, according to organizers and documents filed in recent months with the Labor Department. The cities include New York, Chicago and St. Louis. SEIU officials and members of nonunion community groups are listed as officers of those unions.
"Fast-food workers need a union and we're proud to help them get it started," said Kendall Fells, listed as president of a New York-based union called the Fast Food Workers Committee on documents filed with the Labor Department in February.
McDonald's Corp. and Wendy's Co. said the protests had minimal effects on operations and that they were unaware of any shutdowns. At midday Thursday in downtown Chicago, one of the cities targeted, several outlets of both chains seemed undisturbed. People protested outside one Chicago McDonald's for about 45 minutes; a restaurant employee reached by phone, who didn't want to be identified, said none of the protesters were employed there. Burger King Worldwide Inc. didn't respond to requests for comment.
Workers marching outside fast-food restaurants have called for the chains to increase wages to $15 an hour—wages now can be as low as the national minimum of $7.25 an hour and to allow a "fair process" to join a union. The restaurant companies say they pay fair and competitive wages and that increases of that size would force owners to cut staff.
Previous strikes have targeted fast-food chains in more than a dozen cities from New York to Seattle. The chains have said those strikes also didn't cause significant disruptions. But the momentum of demonstrations is unusual in an industry where organizing has been difficult because of high employee turnover.
The protests come as the Service Employees International Union in recent months has helped establish a new union in at least six cities where the union and community advocacy groups have been organizing fast-food strikes, according to organizers and documents filed in recent months with the Labor Department. The cities include New York, Chicago and St. Louis. SEIU officials and members of nonunion community groups are listed as officers of those unions.
"Fast-food workers need a union and we're proud to help them get it started," said Kendall Fells, listed as president of a New York-based union called the Fast Food Workers Committee on documents filed with the Labor Department in February.
单选题
11.According to the spokesmen for the protests' organizers, the walkouts______.
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】细节题。根据题干关键词定位到第一段最后一句。第一段主要说明快餐行业员工大罢工的原因和意图。最后一句意为“抗议活动组织方的发言人估计，这些活动涉及1 000家快餐门店，还有百货商店等其他一些零售商，并说罢工行动导致一些餐馆关闭”。由此可知，B项“牵扯到许多家快餐店”，符合题意，为正确答案。
单选题
12.It can be inferred from the third paragraph that______.
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】推断题。根据题干关键词定位到第三段。第三段主要说明雇主和工人在工资方面存在极大分歧。员工觉得工资过低，而雇主认为目前的工资水平是公正合理的，并且员工一味要求涨工资，最终会导致雇主裁员，损害员工自己的利益。由此可知C项“员工和雇主对工资有不同的看法”，符合题意，为正确答案。
单选题
13.The momentum of demonstrations in fast-food industry is unusual because______.
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】细节题。根据题干关键词定位到第四段。第四段是对这次罢工的一个评价。此段最后一句为“但这一行业出现游行势头不同寻常，由于员工流动率高，组织游行示威一直很难”。由此可知，D项“员工流动率高”，符合题意，为正确答案。
单选题
14.The word "advocacy" (Para. 5) mostly means______.
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】含义题。根据题干关键词定位到第五段the union and community advocacy groups have been organizing fast-food strikes…，可见community advocacy groups和union(工会)所起的作用类似，都在组织罢工。advocacy意为“支持，拥护”，community advocacy groups直译是“社区拥护组织”，可灵活译为“社区宣传组织”，故A项为正确答案。
单选题
15.It can be concluded from the text that______.
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】推断题。本题属于主旨推断题，需要从整体上把握文章大意。本文主要讲述了美国一场由工会支持的多家城市的快餐店员参与的罢工活动。文章分别从员工和雇主的不同角度对此次罢工进行了评价。读完全文，我们不难发现，在对待工资和此次罢工方面，雇主和员工、工会的看法存在巨大分歧，由此可知D项“立场不同，观点也不同”符合上述意思，故为正确答案。