六级阅读第二十八天(加强卷)完整版.pdf

Passage ★★★☆☆ Questions 1to 5are basedonthe following passage. Inthe last12yearstotalemploymentinthe UnitedStatesgrewfasterthanat any time in the peacetime history of any country – from 82 to 110 million between 1973 and 1985 – that is, by a full one third. The entire growth, however,was in manufacturing, and especially in no – blue-collarjobs. This trend isthe same inall developed countries, and is, indeed, even more pronounced in Japan. It is therefore highly probable that in 25 years developed countries such as the United States and Japan will employ no larger a proportion of the labor force in manufacturing than developed countries now employ in farming – at most, 10 percent. Today the United Statesemploysaround18millionpeopleinblue-collarjobs inmanufacturing industries. By 2010, the number is likely to be no more than 12 million. In some majorindustriesthedropwill beevensharper.It isquiteunrealistic,for instance,to expectthat theAmerican automobile industrywill employ more than one –third of its presentblue-collarforce 25years ,hence,eventhough production might be 50 percent higher. If a company, an industry or a country does not inthe nextquarter century sharply increase manufacturing production and at the same time sharply reducethe blue-collarworkforce, itcannothopeto remaincompetitive – or eventoremain “developed.” Theattempttopreservesuchblue – collarjobs isactually a prescriptionfor unemployment. This isnotaconclusionthatAmerican politicians,laborleadersorindeedthe generalpubliccaneasilyunderstandoraccept.Whatconfusestheissueeven more isthat the United States is experiencing several separate and different shifts in the manufacturing economy. One is the acceleration of the substitutionof knowledgeandcapitalfor manuallabor.Wherewe spokeof mechanization a few decades ago, we now speak of “robotization “ or “automation.” Thisisactuallymoreachangeinterminologythanachangein reality.When Henry Ford introduced the assembly line in 19