The questions in this group are based on the content of a passage. After reading the passage, choose the best answer to each question. Answer all questions following the passage on the basis of what is stated or implied in the passage.
Japanese firms have achieved the highest levels of manufacturing efficiency in the world automobile industry. Some observers of Japan have assumed that Japanese firms use the same manufacturing equipment and techniques as United States firms but have benefited from the unique characteristics of Japanese employees and the Japanese culture. However, if this were true, then one would expect Japanese auto plants in the United States to perform no better than factories run by United States companies. This is not the ease, Japanese-run automobile plants located in the United States and staffed by local workers have demonstrated higher levels of productivity when compared with factories owned by United States companies.
Other observers link high Japanese productivity to higher levels of capital investment per worker. But a historical perspective leads to a different conclusion. When the two top Japanese automobile makers matched and then doubled United States productivity levels in the mid-sixties, capital investment per employee was comparable to that of United States firms. Furthermore, by the late seventies, the amount of fixed assets required to produce one vehicle was roughly equivalent in Japan and in the United States. Since capital investment was not higher in Japan, it had to be other factors that led to higher productivity.
A more fruitful explanation may lie with Japanese production techniques. Japanese automobile producers did not simply implement conventional processes more effectively: they made critical changes in United States procedures. For instance, the mass-production philosophy of United States automakers encouraged the production of huge lots of cars in order to utilize fully expensive, component-specific equipment and to occupy fully workers who have been, trained to execute one operation efficiently. Japanese automakers chose to make small-lot production feasible by introducing several departures from United States practices, including the use of flexible equipment that could be altered easily to do several different production tasks and the training of workers in multiple jobs. Automakers could schedule the production of different components or models on single machines, thereby eliminating the need to store the buffer stocks of extra components that result when specialized equipment and workers are kept constantly active.
The primary purpose of the passage is to ______.
主旨题。文章对于日本汽车制造商生产效率较高这一现象提出了两种错误的解释，之后分别对这两种错误解释进行了分析，最后作者提出了自己比较认同的第三种解释，所以本文主要目的是为了纠正错误观念，故D项是正确的。
The author suggests that if the observers of Japan mentioned in line 2 were correct, which of the following would be the case?
推断题。第一段第二句提到的观察者认为：日本企业效率高是日本文化影响，之后作者用：美国的日本汽车企业，虽然雇本地人，但和美国本地企业相比仍然表现出较高的生产力，否定了这个观点。所以若这个观点是正确，那么作者提出的反例应该是不成立的，即在美国的日本企业，其生产水平应该和在美国的本土企业相仿，故E项是正确的。
Which of the following statements concerning the productivity levels of automakers can be inferred from the passage?
推断题。根据第二段第二句可知，六十年代中期，当顶尖的两个日本汽车企业达到以至两倍于美国生产力水平，所以可知推断1960年以前，日本顶尖汽车生产商的生产力水平是不如美国的，故本题应选A项。
According to the passage, which of the following statements is true of Japanese automobile workers?
细节题。文章倒数第二段中提到：日本汽车制造工人被训练做多项工作，故D项是正确的。
Which of the following best describes the organization of the first paragraph?
文章首先提到了一个现象，即日本企业的效率高，然后作者给出了一个可能的解释，即日本企业的效率高的原因是文化优势，之后作者通过举反例，给此解释给予否定，故C项是正确的。
It can be inferred from the passage that one problem associated with the production of huge lots of cars is which of the following?
推断题。最后一句中作者提到：日本小批量生产汽车不需要存储暂时不用的零部件，所以可以推断，像美国一样大批量生产汽车需要存储暂时不用的零部件，故选B项。
Which of the following statements is supported by information stated in the passage?
细节题。根据第三段首句“A more fruitful explanation may lie with Japanese production techniques”可知，日本汽车制造商和美国汽车制造商在制造流畅上是不同的，故本题应选A项。