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 the firm in the United States. Skill acquisition is considered an individual responsibility. Labor is simply another factor of production to be hired—rented at the lowest possible cost—much as one buys raw materials or equipment.
The lack of importance attached to human-resource management can be seen in the corporate hierarchy. In an American firm the chief financial officer is almost always second in command. The post of head of human-resource management is usually a specialized job, off at the edge of the corporate hierarchy. The executive who holds it is never consulted on major strategic decisions and has no chance to move up to Chief Executive Officer (CEO). By way of contrast, in Japan the head of human-resource management is central--usually the second most important executive, after the CEO, in the firm"s hierarchy.
While American firms often talk about the vast amounts spent on training their work-forces, in fact they invest less in the skills of their employees than do either Japanese or German firms. The money 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 focused on the specific skills necessary to do the next job rather than on the basic background skills that make it possible to absorb new technologies.
As a result, problems emerge when new breakthrough technologies arrive. If American workers, for example, take much longer to learn how to operate new flexible manufacturing stations than workers in Germany (as they do ) , the effective cost of those stations is lower in Germany than it 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 bottle-necks that limit the speed with which new equipment can be employed. 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"t effectively staff the processes that have to he operated, the management and professional jobs that go with these processes will disappear.

单选题 According to this passage, the problem America firm faced with is______.

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】[解析] 事实细节题
[解析] 文章开门见山提出问题所在，点明文章主旨，是全文的中心句。从首句“If sustainable competitive advantage depends on work-force skills，Ameriean firms have a problem”可以看出美国公司现在面临一个问题，即是否可以依靠劳动者的技能保持竞争优势。再看第二段句首分论点“The lack of importance attached to human-resource management can be seen in the eorporate hierarchy”，即在公司的等级制度中，可以看出对人力资源的管理缺乏重视。综合以上两点可以推出正确答案为D。

单选题 Comparing with Japan and Germany, American companies______.

单选题 According to this passage______.

单选题 According to this passage, when new breakthrough technologies arrive,______.

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】[解析] 推断题
[解析] 从文章If American workers，for example，take much longer to learn how to operate new flexible manufacturing stations than workers in Germany(as they do)，即美国工人比德国工人花费更长的时间学习如何掌握新的灵活的制造工作(正如他们所做的)，同时付出了更高的学习成本。可见A为正确答案，而B、C、D项与文章原文恰恰论述相反，故均可排除。