阅读理解15篇

Text 1

If sustainable competitive advantage depends on workforce 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.

The lack of important attached to human resource management can be seen in the corporate hierarchy(社团中的等级制度). In an American firm the chief financial officer is almost always second in command. The post of the 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. 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.

1. Which of the following applies to the management of human resources in American companies?

A. They hire people at the lowest cost regardless of their skills. B. They see the gaining of skills as their employees’ own business. C. They attach more importance to workers than to equipment. D. They only hired skilled workers because of keen competition.

2. What is the position of the head of human resource management in an American firm?

A. He is one of the most important executives in the run.

B. His post is likely to disappear when new technologies are introduced. C. He is directly under the chief financial executive.

D. He has no say in making important decisions in the firm.

3. The money most American firms put in training mainly goes to _____________.

A. workers who can operate new equipment B. professional and managerial staff C. workers who lace basic ground skills D. top executives

4. What’s the main idea of the passage?

A. American firms are different from Japanese and German firms in human resource management.

B. Extensive retraining is indispensable to effective human resource management.

C. The head of human resource management must be in the central position in a firm’s hierarchy.

D. The human resource management strategies of American firms will affect their competitive capacity.

5. According to the passage, the decisive factor in maintaining a firm’s competitive advantage is

____________.

A. the introduction of new technologies B. the improvement of workers’ basic skills

C. the rational composition of professional and managerial employees D. the attachment of importance to the bottom haft of the employees

Text 2

George Washington Carver showed that plant life was more than just food for animals and humans. Carver’s first step was to analyze plant parts to find out what they were made of. He then combined these simpler isolated substances with other substances to create new products.

The branch of chemistry that studies and finds ways to use raw materials from farm products to make industrial products is called chemurgy(农业化学加工学). Carver was one of the first and greatest chemurgists of all time. Today the science of chemurgy is better known as the science of synthetics. Each day people depend on and use synthetic materials made from raw materials. All his life Carver battled against the disposal of waste materials, and warned of the growing need to develop substitutes for the natural substances being used up by humans. Carver never cared about getting credit for the new products he created. He never tried to patent his discoveries or get wealthy form them. He turned down many offers to leave Tuskegee Institute to become a rich scientist in private industry. Thomas Edison, inventor of the electric light, offered him a laboratory in Detroit to carry out food research when he was in the United States Department of Agriculture. At the peak of his career, Carver’s fame and influence were known on every continent.

1. With what topic is the passage mainly concerned?

A. The work and career of George Washington Carver. B. The research conducted at Tuskegee Institute. C. The progress of the science of synthetics. D. The use of plants as a source of nutrition.

2. The word “step” ( Line 2, Para. 1) could best be replaced by ______________.

A. footprint B. action C. scale D. stair 3. Why does the author mention Thomas Edison’s offer to Carver?

A. To illustrate one of Carver’s many opportunities. B. To portray the wealth of one of Carver’s competitors. C. To contrast Edison’s contribution with that of Carver. D. To describe Carver’s dependence on industrial support.

4. Which of the following is NOT discussed in the passage as work done by Carver?

A. Research on electricity. B. Analysis of plant parts.

C. Invention of new products. D. Battle against the disposal of waste materials. 5. One of Carver’s main concerns is most similar to which of the following present day causes?

A. Preventive medicine. B. Recycling of used materials. C. Preservation of old buildings. D. Prevention of cruelty to animals.

Text 3

Ask Steveland Morris and he’ll tell you that blindness is not necessarily disabling. Steveland was born prematurely(过早地) and totally without sight in 1950. He became Stevie

wonder---composer, singer, and pianist. The winner of ten Grammy awards, Stevie is widely acclaimed for his outstanding contributions to the music world. As a child, Stevie learned not to think about the things he could not do, but to concentrate on the things that he could do. His parents encouraged him to join his sighted brothers in as many activities as possible. They also helped him to sharpen his sense of hearing, the sense upon which the visually disabled are so dependent.

Because sound was so important to him, Stevie began at an early age to experiment with different kinds of sound. He would bang things together and then imitate the sound with his voice. Often relying on sound for entertainment, he sang, beat on toy drums, played a toy harmonica(口琴), and listened to the radio.

Stevie soon graduated from toy instruments to real instruments. He first learned to play the drums. He then mastered the harmonica and the piano. He became a member of the junior church choir and a lead singer. In the evenings and on weekends, Stevie would play different instruments and sing popular rhythm and blues tunes on the front porches of neighbors’ homes. One of Stevie’s sessions was overheard by Ronnie White, a member of a popular singing group called The Miracles. Ronnie immediately recognized Stevie’s talent and took him to audition for Berry Gordy, the president of Histville USA, a large recording company now known as Motown. Stevie recorded his first smash hit “Finger-tips” in 1962 at age twelve, and the rest of Stevie’s story is music history.

1. By saying “Stevie soon graduated from toy instruments to real instruments” (Line 1, Para. 4), the author means that _____________.

A. Stevie finished his study at a toy instruments school B. Stevie started to play real instruments

C. Stevie gave up all his toy instruments and began to buy many real instruments D. Stevie began to study in a real instruments school

2. Which of the following statements does not provide the right information of Stevie’s “Fingertips”?

A. It recorded Stevie’s musical performance that won him instant fame. B. It was a record that turned out to be a great success.

C. It carried the message that the blind could work miracles with their fingertips. D. It was the blindness that contributed to his success.

3. The author mentions all the following facts EXCEPT that ________.

A. Stevie’s neighbours could often enjoy his playing and singing

B. it was Ronnie White who recognized Stevie’s talent and led him to a successful career C. Berry Cordy helped him to set up his own recording company

D. Stevie’s family played a very important part in training his sense of hear 4. Which of the following is NOT true about Stevie’s childhood?

A. Stevie often told people that a blind person is not necessarily disabled. B. He learned to concentrate on things that he could do.

C. He played as often as possible with his brothers, who had normal sight. D. He tried very hard to train his sense of hearing. 5. The best title for this passage might be ____________.

A. The Music World B. Stevie Wonder C. Great Musicians D. Blind People

Text 4

The Norwegian Government is doing its best to keep the oil industry under control. A new law limits exploration to an area south of the southern end of the long coastline; production limits have been laid down (though these have already been raised); and oil companies have not been allowed to employ more than a limited number of foreign workers. But the oil industry has a way of getting over such problems, and few people believe that the Government will be able to hold things back for long. As one Norwegian politician said last week: “We will soon be changed beyond all recognition.”

Ever since the war, the Government has been carrying out a programme of development in the area north the Arctic Circle. During the past few years this programme has had a great deal of success: Tromso has been built up into a local capital with a university, a large hospital and a healthy industry. But the oil industry has already started to draw people south, and within a few years the whole northern policy could be in ruins.

The effects of the oil industry would not be limited to the north, however. With nearly 100 percent employment, everyone can see a situation developing in which the service industries and the tourist industry will lose more of their workers to the oil industry. Some smaller industries might even disappear altogether when it becomes cheaper to buy goods from abroad.

The real argument over oil is its threat to the Norwegian way of life. Farmers and fishermen do not make up most of the population, but they are important part of it because Norwegians see in them many of the qualities that they regard with pride as essentially Norwegian. And it is the farmers and the fishermen who are most critical of the oil industry because of the damage that it might cause to the countryside and to the sea.

1. The Norwegian Government would prefer the oil industry to ____________.

A. quicken its exploration of underground oil along the coastline B. slow down the speed of its development

C. raise its oil production while employing fewer workers D. find a way to overcome the problem of unemployment 2. The majority of the Norwegian people ___________.

A. don’t understand what the government is doing

B. believe that the government will be able to develop that oil industry

C. don’t think the government is able to exercise its control over the oil industry D. hope that the whole nation will change as quickly as possible 3. Tromso is facing the problem that _______________.

A. too many people have left the city and headed for the south B. its oil industry will endanger the health of its citizens C. it has no oil resource in the local area D. its developing programme has failed

4. According to the passage, the following statements are true EXCEPT _________.

A. the argument over the oil industry is, above all, its threat to the Norwegian way of life B. the chances of getting employed in the oil companies are almost 100%

C. the oil industry is not worried about the government’s control, for it has a way of coping with the problem

D. the development of Tromso is successful