Question

【題目】 A knitting factory in Bangladesh brings together the past, present, and the future. On one floor, workers knit by hand. On another, people and machines do the work together. And on a third floor, there are only robots.

This building might seem outdated, given the accepted wisdom that robots will replace humans in textiles and many other industries. But it is actually a wise response to how the Fourth Industrial Revolution will likely play out in Asia. As is the case elsewhere, technological progress is rapidly changing industries and economies across the world.

However, much of Asia isn’t ready for robots, for reasons that go beyond fears of mass unemployment. Poorer countries face great barriers to adopting new technologies. Moreover, the region’s lower wages encourage companies to keep human workers. At the factory in Bangladesh, human workers can step in if power or equipment failures knock the machines offline. At the same time, having a fully automated section allows production to continue if workers go on strike.

Conventional wisdom believes that this dual-track(雙軌的)approach isn’t sustainable, and that low-to middle-skilled workers will eventually make way for robots. However, these pessimistic predictions ignore the fact that most jobs consist of lots of tasks, some of which cannot be automated.

Still, robots are gaining foothold in the region, particularly in economies such as China and the Republic of Korea. In 2015, robot sales in Asia increased by 19 percent－the fourth record-breaking year in a row. When less-developed Asian countries eventually join the technology trend, layoffs will inevitably follow. To soften the blow, governments urgently need to pursue labor-market reforms and examine their education systems, starting with technical and vocational education and training (TVET). Although TVET is becoming increasingly popular in Asia’s developing economies, its quality is often poor. Governments should ensure that TVET courses focus on more relevant skills, while remaining flexible so that students can study without sacrificing income.

【1】What does the author think of the knitting factory?

A.Fashionable.B.Complicated.C.Brilliant.D.Wasteful.

【2】Why did robots fail to be widely applied in Asia?

A.Power failures often occur in factories.

B.Some countries are not fully prepared.

C.Unemployment has caused many problems.

D.Some countries are too poor to adopt the new technology.

【3】What is the reason behind governments’ reforms?

A.To make robots more popular.

B.To raise the quality of education.

C.To reduce the influence of robots.

D.To improve the income of students.

【4】What might be talked about in the following paragraph?

A.Measures to resist robots.

B.Ways to improve TVET courses.

C.Some policies to support workers.

D.The future of the dual-track approach.

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】C

【2】B

【3】C

【4】B

【解析】

本文是說明文。文章講述了亞洲的一些針織廠沒有采用機(jī)器生產(chǎn)而是繼續(xù)使用人力生產(chǎn)的原因。政府希望能夠通過TVET項(xiàng)目，減少機(jī)器生產(chǎn)對人力生產(chǎn)帶來的沖擊。

【1】細(xì)節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)第二段But it is actually a wise response to how the Fourth Industrial Revolution will likely play out in Asia（但這實(shí)際上是對第四次工業(yè)革命將如何在亞洲進(jìn)行的明智反應(yīng)）可知文章的觀點(diǎn)是贊成孟加拉的一些針織廠的做法。brilliant意為：明智的，燦爛的，奪目的，與文章wise是同義詞。故選 C項(xiàng)。

【2】細(xì)節(jié)理解題。從第二段：much of Asia isn’t ready for robots和Poorer countries face great barriers to adopting new technologies. Moreover, the region’s lower wages encourage companies to keep human workers可知，亞洲大部分地區(qū)還沒有做好使用機(jī)器人的準(zhǔn)備。原因有：較貧窮的國家在采用新技術(shù)方面面臨巨大障礙、較低的工資鼓勵(lì)公司留住工人。故選 B 項(xiàng)。

【3】細(xì)節(jié)理解題。從最后一段When less-developed Asian countries eventually join the technology trend , layoffs will inevitably follow. To soften the blow，governments urgently need to pursue labor-market reforms（當(dāng)欠發(fā)達(dá)的亞洲國家最終加入科技的大潮，失業(yè)就不可避免地隨之而來。為了緩解這種沖擊，政府迫切需要尋求勞動力市場的改革）可知，政府進(jìn)行改革就是要緩解機(jī)器生產(chǎn)對失業(yè)帶來的沖擊。故選 C 項(xiàng)。

【4】推理判斷題。從最后一段Although TVET is becoming increasingly popular in Asia’s developing economies, its quality is often poor可知,雖然政府進(jìn)行的 TVET項(xiàng)目在發(fā)展亞洲經(jīng)濟(jì)方面很受歡迎，但是效果并不好。文章接下來應(yīng)該介紹如何提高效果。故選 B 項(xiàng)。