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 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 bottlenecks 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 bottom half of the population affect the wages of the top half. If the bottom half can' t effectively staff the processes that have to be operated, the management and professional jobs that go with these processes will disappear.

单选题 Which of the following does not apply to the management of human resources in American companies?

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】细节题。
题意为：“下列哪句不适用于美国公司的人力资源管理?”根据文章第三段，可知美国公司对雇员的技术培训很少。对工作培训有限的投资往往集中于下一个工作所需的特殊技能的培训而不是基本技能的培训。故选项B“他们花大量的时间和金钱培训工人”为正确答案；选项A“他们重视工作，而不是设备”；选项C“他们把获得技能看作是员工自己的事情”；选项D“他们以最低的成本雇人，而不考虑他们的技能”。

单选题 What isn't the position of the head of human-resource management in an American firm?

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】细节题。
题意为：“在美国公司人力资源管理的领导的地位不是怎样的?”请参考文章第二段第三句、第四句：人力资源管理部门的领导通常是一个特殊职位，处于公司领导层的边缘；公司主要的战略决策问题从来不和人力资源管理部门的主管商量，他也没有机会升任总裁。可知选项A“他是公司最重要的主管之一”为正确答案。选项B“当引进新技术时，才可能有他的职位”；选项C“在公司做重要决策时，他没有发言权”；选项D“他和财务总监不能相提并论”都是关于美国公司人力资源管理部门主管的正确陈述。

单选题 Compared with American firms, Germany ones______.

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】细节题。
题意为：“与美国公司相比，德国公司______。”请参考文章第三段首句：实际上美国公司在员工技能上的投资少于日本公司或德国公司。可知选项B“德国公司在员工技能上的投资要多于美国公司”为正确答案。选项A“美国公司在耗费巨资来培训他们的员工”；选项C“德国公司更专注于投资专业与管理人才上”；选项D“更注重在员工必须掌握的从而有利于他们下一步工作的技术上投资”。

单选题 According to the passage, the money most American firms put in training mainly goes to______.

单选题 What is the main idea of the passage?

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】主旨题。
题意为：“本文的主题是什么?”从全文的内容分析，作者论述了美国公司不大重视人才的管理，对雇员技能培训不够，从而影响了公司的竞争力。由此可见选项 C“美国公司的人力资源管理策略，影响了公司的竞争力”为正确答案。选项A“美国公司的人力资源管理与日本公司和德国公司没有差别”；选项B((广泛的再培训对于有效的人力资源管理来说是必不可少的”；选项D“人力资源管理的主管必须处于公司级别的中心位置”。