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Text 1
In an essay entitled “Making It in America”, the author Adam Davidson relates a joke from cotton about just how much a modern textile mill has been automated: The average mill only two employees today,” a man and a dog. The man is there to feed 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 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 worker.
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 2009, [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 changed-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 poet-high school education.
单选题
The joke in Paragraph 1 is used to illustrate_______
单选题
According to Paragraph 3, to be a successful employee, one has to______
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】 【解 析】 事实细节题，通过题干“根据第3段，要想成为一个成功的雇员，一个人得……”, 我们首先可以定位到文章第三段，由第三段的最后一句话“Therefore, everyone needs to find their extra-their unique value contribution that makes them stand out in whatever is their field of employment.”意思是“因此，人人都需要有另外的价值，异于常人的独特价值能够让他们在各自的雇佣市场上脱颖而出。”，我们可以得出，题干中 “to be a successful employee”与第三段的最后一句话中的“that makes them stand out in whatever is their field of employment”是同义替换，“everyone needs to find their extra-their unique value contribution”与D选项中的“contribute something unique”是同义替换，所以D选项正确。
A、B两个选项与第三段的倒数第二句话意思不符，是干扰选项。C选项与第三段的第一、二句话意思相反，重点关注的是“But ,today ,average is officially over.”，意思是“现如今，拥有一般水平不行了。”
单选题
The quotation in Paragraph 4 explains that ______
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】【解 析】根据题干定位到第四段，第一句technology has been eating jobs（技术使工作机会减少）也反映了该段的主旨。而根据题干quotation一词，我们读到引号里有“shed workers （解雇工人）”、“roughly one out of every three manufacturing jobs-about 6 million in total -disappeared （大约1/3的手工生产工作机会消失，总计6百万）”，可推断出B选项。
单选题
According to the author, to reduce unemployment, the most important is_____
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】 【解 析】细节题。根据题干reduce unemployment减少失业，可以定位到文章中最后一段，这段出现了与之类似的表达“support employment” 促进就业，而题干表述“the most important”与文章“nothing would be more important than”相对应，指出促进就业最重要的是颁布类似于“G.I.Bill”的法案来保障人们接受高等教育的权利，选项C与之吻合，故正确。A项加速信息技 术产业变革，C项促进经济全球化，均未提及，故排除。D项是干扰项，虽提及要颁布更多法案，但颁布法案的目的实际是为了保障教育，故也排除。
单选题
Which of the following would be the most appropriate title for the text?
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】【解析】该题是主旨大意题，主要考查考生根据文章内容凝练主旨大意的能力。从整个文章的脉络来看，第一段以亚当?大卫森一篇论文中关于现代工厂自动化与仅 需要一人一狗两个员工的一则笑话，揭示了科技进步给人们带来的影响。第二三段是科技的进步引起工厂自动化水平提高，普通员工如果没有竞争力和突出优势，就 很容易失去工作，因此也对员工提出了更高的要求（extra-unique value contribution）。第四段就是员工只有不断地提高自己的教育水平，才能让自己脱颖而出（to have more and better education to make themselves above average）。最后一段点明主题，average is officially over。由此可见，全文一直在围绕这一宏观主线展开，这一主线也统领全文，所以正确答案为C。