addition考研英语历年阅读理解真题精析--1998年part2

考研英语历年阅读理解真题精析

--1998

年

part2

Part Two

Well, no gain without pain, they say. But what about pain without gain? Everywhere

you go in America, you hear tales of corporate revival. What is harder to establish

is whether the productivity revolution that businessmen assume they are presiding

over is for real.

The

official

statistics

are

mildly

discouraging.

They

show

that,

if

you

lump

manufacturing

and

services

together,

productivity

has

grown

on

average

by

1.2%

since

1987.

That

is

somewhat

faster

than

the

average

during

the

previous

decade.

And

since

1991, productivity has increased by about 2% a year, which is more than twice the

1978 87 average. The trouble is that part of the recent acceleration is due to the

usual

rebound

that

occurs

at

this

point

in

a

business

cycle,

and

so

is

not

conclusive

evidence

of

a

revival

in

the

underlying

trend.

There

is,

as

Robert

Rubin,

the

treasury

secretary, says, a

to a leap in productivity and the picture reflected by the statistics.

Some of this can be easily explained. New ways of organizing the workplace all that

re

engineering

and

downsizing

-

are

only

one

contribution

to

the

overall

productivity

of an economy, which is driven by many other factors such as joint investment in

equipment and machinery, new technology, and investment in education and training.

Moreover,

most

of

the

changes

that

companies

make

are

intended

to

keep

them

profitable,

and this need not always mean increasing productivity: switching to new markets or

improving quality can matter just as much.

Two

other

explanations

are

more

speculative.

First,

some

of

the

business

restructuring

of

recent

years

may

have

been

ineptly

done.

Second,

even

if

it

was

well

done, it may have spread much less widely than people suppose.

Leonard

Schlesinger,

a

Harvard

academic

and

former

chief

executive

of

Au

Bong

Pain,

a rapidly growing chain of bakery cafes, says that much

crude. In many cases, he believes, the loss of revenue has been greater than the

reductions in cost. His colleague, Michael Beer, says that far too many companies

have applied re engineering in a mechanistic fashion, chopping out costs without

giving

sufficient

thought

to

long

term

profitability.

BBDO's

Al

Rosenshine

is

blunter.

He dismisses a lot of the work of re engineering consultants as mere rubbish -

worst sort of ambulance cashing.

5. According to the author, the American economic situation is _____ .

A

）

not as good as it seemsB

）

at its turning point

C

）

much better than it seems D

）

near to complete recovery

6. The official statistics on productivity growth _____ .

A

）

exclude the usual rebound in a business cycleB

）

fall short of businessmen's

anticipation

C

）

meet

the

expectation

of

business

people

D

）

fail

to

reflect

the

true

state

of

economy

7. The author raises the question

A

）

he questions the truth of

B

）

he does not think the productivity revolution works

C

）

he wonders if the official statistics are misleading

D

）

he has conclusive evidence for the revival of businesses

8. Which of the following statements is NOT mentioned in the passage?

A

）

Radical reforms are essential for the increase of productivity.

B

）

New ways of organizing workplaces may help to increase productivity.

C

）

The reduction of costs is not a sure way to gain long term profitability.

D

）

The consultants are a bunch of good for nothings.

Unit 5

（

1998

）

Part2

重点词汇：

（

v.

假定；承担；呈现）

。

Optimism assumes, or attempts to prove, that the

universe exists to please us, and pessimism that it exists to displease us.

乐观主

义假定或企图证明宇宙存在 是为了使我们快乐；悲观主义则假定或企图证明那是为了使我们

不快乐。

（团块；使成团块）

。

An

overdose

of

praise

is

like

ten

lumps

of

sugar

in

coffee;

only a very few people can swallow it.< /p>

过量的赞扬有如在咖啡里放了十块糖，只有极少

数的人能咽得下去 。

ration

（

< br>加速；

加速度）

即

ac+cel er+ation

，

ac-

加强前缀，

celer

词根

速度

，

-ation

名词后缀；反义词为

deceleration

（减速 ）←

de

向下

+celer+atio n

。

d

（< /p>

v.n.

反弹）←

re

< br>反

+bound

跳。