1. Ford's great
strength was the manufacturing process--not invention. Long before he started a
car company, he was a worker, known for picking up pieces of metal and wire and
turning them into machines. He started putting cars together in 1891, although
it was by no means the first popular automobile, the Model T showed the world
just how creative Ford was at combining technology and market.
2. The company's assembly line alone threw America's Industrial Revolution into
overdrive (高速运转的). Instead of having workers put together the entire car, Ford's
friends, who were great toolmakers from Scotland, organized teams that added
parts to each Model T as it moved down a line. By the time Ford's Highland Park
plant was humming (嗡嗡作响) along in 1914, the world's first automatic conveyor
belt could turn out a car every 93 minutes. 3. The same year
Henry Ford shocked the world with the $5-a-day minimum Wage scheme, the greatest
contribution he had ever made. The average Wage in the auto industry then was
$2.34 for a 9-hour shift. Ford not only doubled that, he also took an hour off
the workday. In those years it was unthinkable that a man could be paid that
much for doing something that didn't involve an awful lot of training or
education. The Wall Street Journal called the plan "an economic crime" and
critics everywhere laughed at Ford. 4. But as the wage
increased later to daily $10, it proved a critical component of Ford's dream to
make the automobile accessible (可及的) to all The critics were too stupid to
understand that because Ford had lowered his costs per car, the higher wages
didn't matter-except for making it possible for more people to buy
cars. A. Ford's Followers B. The Assembly
Line C. Ford's Great Dream D. The
Establishment of the Company E. Ford's Biggest
Contribution F. Ford's Great Talent
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paragraph 1 ______.
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paragraph 2 ______.
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paragraph 3 ______.
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paragraph 4 ______.
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A. criticized by the media
B. the low wage in the auto industry
C. own a car
D. produce cars in large numbers
E. the 8-hour-shift practice
F. combined technology and market
The assembly line made it possible to ______.
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Ford was the first to adopt ______.
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Higher wages enabled many people to ______.
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Ford's higher-wage and lower-cost strategy was strongly ______.