单选题 If sustainable competitive advantage depends on work-force skills.American firms have a problem．Human-resource management is not traditionally seen as central to the competitive survival of thefirm in the United States．Skill acquisition is considered an individual responsibility．Labor issimply another factor of production to be hired-rented at the lowest possible cost-much as onebuys raw materials or equipment．The lack of importance attached to human-resource management can be seen in the corporatehierarchy．In an American firm the chief financial officer is almost always second in comman@D@Thepost of head of human-resource management is usually a specialized job，off at the edge of thecorporate hierarchy．The executive who holds it is never consulted on major strategic decisions andhas no chance to move up to Chief Executive Officer(CEO)．By way of contrast，in Japan the head ofhuman-resource management is central-usually the second most important executive，after theCEO，in the firm’s hierarchy．While American firms often talk about the vast amounts spent on training their work forces，infact they invest less in the skills of their employees than do either Japanese or German firms．Themoney they do invest is also more highly concentrated on professional and managerial employees．And the limited investments that are made in training workers are also much more narrowly focusedon the specific skills necessary to do the next job rather than on the basic background skills thatmake it possible to absorb new technologies．As a result，problems emerge when new breakthrough technologies arrive．If Americanworkers，for example，take much longer to learn how to operate new flexible manufacturing stationsthan workers in Germany(as they do)，the effective cost of those stations is lower in Germany thanit is in the United States．More time is required before equipment is up and running at capacity，and the need for extensive retraining generates costs and creates bottlenecks that limit the speedwith which new equipment can be employe@D@The result is a slower pace of technological change．And in the end the skills of the population affect the wages of the top half．If the bottom half can’teffectively staff the processes that have to be operated，the management and professional jobs thatgo with these processes will disappear．

单选题 Which of the following applies to the management of human—resources in Americancompanies?______.

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】解析：细节判断题。本题问美国公司人力资源管理的情况。根据题干，问题指向第一段第二、三两句话：在美国公司看来，人力资源管理对公司在市场竞争中能否生存并不是非常重要的，学习技术被看成是工人个人的事情，因此选项B是正确答案。B中gaining ofskills对应原文skill acquisition，their employees’own business对应individual responsibility。本段最后一句话说美国公司认为应该以尽可能低的价格雇佣工人，但并没有说可以不考虑工人的技术水平，所以A项错；最后一句话也提到美国公司就像购买原料和设备一样雇佣员工，可见其并不重视工人，所以C错；D文章没有提到。

单选题 What is the position ofthe head ofhuman-resource management in an American firm?______

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】解析：细节题。本题问美国公司中人力资源管理部门的负责人地位如何。关键词是position，问题可以定位到原文第二段第三、四句：人力资源管理部门的负责人的职位通常是一项专业化的工作，在公司等级制度中排位最低。公司高层从来不就重要的战略决策问题和人力资源管理部门的经理进行商讨，他们也永远没有机会晋升到公司的首席执行官。由此推断．D项为正确答案。A项与事实情况相反；B项没有提到；由于文章中讲人力资源管理部门的经理远离权力核心，所以C项也不对。

单选题 The money most American firms put in training mainly goes to______．

单选题 According to the passage，the decisive factor in maintaining a firm’s competitive advantageis______．

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】解析：细节题。本题问保持公司的竞争优势的决定性因素是什么。关键词是decisive factors，competitive advantage，根据文章首句：如果可持续的竞争优势取决于工人的技术的话，美国公司就面临着问题了。反过来说，工人的技术对公司保持竞争优势很重要。第三段最后一句和第四段第一句说：培训工人的有限资金也仅仅用于完成新的工作必须的具体技术的培训上，而不是用在可以使工人适应未来新的生产工艺的基本技术的培训上。这样的做法结果是，新的突破性的工艺出现时，就会有许多问题出现(接着作者在下文举例说明到底是什么样的问题)。综上所述，正确答案应为B。文章虽然提到新工艺，但并没有说这对公司的竞争优势很重要，所以A错；C项本文未提到；文章最后提到了bottom half，但是只是说bottom half的技术水平会影响公司上层人员的利益，但D项的意思太宽泛，没有提到技术因素，而这是文章中反复强调的内容，所以D项不对。